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Hammersmith Bridge closed to motor vehicles "indefinitely"

Will them getting a ferry sorted at Hammersmith help them get a much more needed ferry sorted at Rotherhithe I wonder? Ferries have been promised and every month they don't arrive I'm having to take the Greenwich tunnel route which is terrible for bikes.
There is a ferry at rotherhithe right now. Goes to Canary Wharf.
 
There is a ferry at rotherhithe right now. Goes to Canary Wharf.
Yeah, and it's a full boat fare for the one minute crossing. £4.60 I think, which is bloody ridiculous. When they failed to build a bridge there as originally promised they said they'd put a free ferry there instead.
 
Who promised a free ferry?
'Promised' is a bit of a stretch perhaps. They were considering it after the failure of their bridge plans (in which they over-specced a bridge and made it very expensive, then decided it was too expensive to build).




At some point it all seemed a certainty: TfL unveils plans for 'turn up and go' Rotherhithe to Canary Wharf ferry service

But now I can't find recent info so wonder if it's been quietly put on the back burner due to funding cuts.
 
The report from the engineers regarding the western pedestals should be being considered by LBHF this week.

It will be interesting to see if engineering concerns are trumped by a politicians desire to open it to cyclists and pedestrians.
 
We should just buy two of these and put them on both sides of the river

pod.jpg


I can't see any downside to it...
 
Anyway the ferry is coming. Trust me on that. It’s a chance to get hundreds of school kids to try London’s river services and with luck get them hooked on the river.
 
It has re-opened to peds and cyclists. Does that shelve the ferry plans? Not sure if the ferry plan was going to be motor vehicles or not.
 
Well the view is the bridge will have to shut periodically to enable stabilisation works to be carried out thus the ferry is needed more than ever.
 
So, if they haven't actually done any works to it. Does that mean it was fine for pedestrians and cyclists all along?
Well the latest engineers report has not been published. The previous one by Mott McDonald’s is interesting reading. It’s publically available.

There is a lot of politics mixed in with the wrought iron.
 
Am out at the bridge site now. It will reopen at 09:00 tomorrow according to the site foreman.
It’s in a terrible state (to look at). Covered in weeds and filth.

Lots of locals watching the works. All asking the same question “is it safe”?

Then asking “if it’s safe now and no stabilisation work has been done why was it shut in 2020”?
 
It’s sad to see all the work on the ferry project sinking gently into the Thames.

The decision by LBHF to undermine the ferry will likely prove shortsighted.

The bridge will have to close periodically for repairs and for possibly elongated periods. Back to no crossing at all is a real possibility.
 
The ferry (well the piers) seemingly need to get planning approval. The local rag (Richmond & Twickenham Times) featured a front page the other day with Richmond's weird lib dem MP trying to encourage as many people as possible to support it.

As far as I can tell there are a few local residents not very happy about it having now seen the plans. The article suggested the naysayers were mainly on the Hammersmith side (North bank, Middlesex Station, whatever...)
 
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