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| Hammersmith Bridge today |
Rather than find a way to pay for the repairs, our local Council, LBHF, seem to have decided on a new idea - to celebrate the closure instead. Hammersmith Bridge is being re-branded as a "green" bridge - cycles and pedestrians only. No more polluting wicked cars.
Nick Fairholme, TfL’s director of project and programme delivery, told a conference: “Although we want to reopen it, [a full repair] is not going to be a cheap fix. If there is public support for leaving it as a pedestrian and cycle bridge then we will have to consider that.”
The trouble is, Hammersmith Bridge is a major traffic artery for thousands of Londoners, and the closure has forcibly re-routed six bus routes. LBHF say that they have no money for repairs, but there are two simple ways that the money could be raised.
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| Clifton Suspension Bridge - £1 toll |
The first and most obvious solution is to levy a toll. Tolls pay for bridges all over the world, and even Hammersmith Bridge began its life as a toll bridge.
A charge of as little as £1 would, assuming 20,000 vehicles a day for 365 days, raise over £7 million per year - a more than adequate income stream to secure commercial financing.
By way of comparison, the Batheaston toll bridge in Bath charges 80p and the Clifton suspension bridge charges £1 (it increased from 50p in 2014). Tolls are very democratic - anyone who doesn't want to pay could use another bridge, or walk.
Sell some assets
The second easy solution for LBHF would be to sell some valuable assets that serve no purpose, such as the Cecil French collection, a collection of Victorian artwork that is not on display, cannot be seen by the public, and costs money to archive and insure. To see our proposed solution for how LBHF could raise the cash to solve this (and many other problems), follow this link.
The Shepherd's Bush Blog offers a personal view on life in Shepherd's Bush. If you would like to contribute a story about our neighbourhood, email us at shepherdsbushblog@gmail.com
Closing the bridge to cars is a fantastic idea. It was never meant for cars being originakky built to accommodate nothing heavier than horses and carts.
ReplyDeleteThe more routes that are closed to cars the better. It is just not environmentally sustainable to carry on polluting and destroying our precious environment. The result is a more pleasant place for all