Hammersmith Bridge July 2026

This is our twelfth update since 2019 closure to motorised transport.  The last time we reported on the bridge was nearly three years ago, when boreholes were being drilled to assess the strength of the river bed as part of preparation for straightening and potentially enacting the Foster-Cowi proposal.  Since then, the cracked pedestals have been filled, cast iron decorative covers completely removed, and the roadway resurfaced and reopened as a cycleway / walkway only, though high speed electric bikes and scooters whizz across it too.

The government’s Hammersmith Bridge Task Force last met in January 2025.  There’s since been talk of tapping the £1 billion Structures Fund to fund restoration.  But it’s a fund for the whole of the UK, and for a period up until 2030, and any bids for funding must be in by 3 August. The now-suggested £300m full restoration cost appears out of proportion.

There’s a significant body of opinion that believes the current situation is sustainable – perhaps even ‘green’ – which as the council report shows below, is not true, with a cost in excess of £100m expected as a baseline, just to keep it standing as-is – while remaining usable. This option has our MP’s support, Andy Slaughter saying that ‘realistically this is the best option available’, while accepting that those with reduced mobility need a solution, but support from MP’s and others south of the river is rather less emphatic. The BBC goes further, suggesting that an axe has already fallen.

One idea being promoted is driverless pods taking 12 people at a time across the bridge. Our chairman and vice chairman, Angela Clarke and Matt Hedges, will be trying them out in Barnes this week and we expect there to be further information on them at our stall at the Hammersmith Community Day in Ravenscourt Park on Saturday 18 July. Come along to let us know what you think.

With costs escalating out of reach, and 7 years on the clock, somewhat surprisingly, as many members and others writing to us would be happy to see the bridge sold off to the highest bidder from a museum – or American state – if that could fund a new and fully functional bridge of some kind – unspecified – as would vote for a status quo, telling the story of an unwillingness to maintain London’s public infrastructure.

Cabinet bridge report. click to read.

This week the council cabinet received the report shown adjacent, which adjoining borough Richmond – whose residents are significantly more impacted – has claimed represents a poverty of ambition.

LBHF is considering its options now reporting a likely full restoration cost of around £300m, up from £250m last time we looked and the £200m of 2023.

Using the power of AI, we have summarised this to focus on the status and available options without editorial, below.

Current condition

Bridge hanger with strain gauge monitoring, July 2026

• The 139-year-old, Grade II* listed bridge reopened to pedestrians and cyclists in April 2025 after stabilisation works to its cast-iron pedestals (which had developed micro-fractures risking sudden collapse).
• It remains officially “substandard” and is managed under bridge assessment code CS470, requiring intensive ongoing monitoring. Without further work, it risks having to close again on safety grounds.
• Hanger bearings seized in 2024, requiring an emergency bypass system; pedestal casings (ornate cast-iron covers) were removed during stabilisation and never reinstated.

Ongoing maintenance needs (whatever else happens)

• Annual safety inspection/monitoring/maintenance regime: ~£1.5m/year from 2026/27 (this is a statutory requirement under the Highways Act 1980, regardless of which restoration path is chosen).
• Storage of the removed pedestal casings: ~£120,000/year, plus other operational costs bringing total unavoidable extras to ~£500,000/year.
• Planning consent for the casings’ removal has lapsed; a 5-year extension is being sought, but consent could eventually be refused if there’s no credible restoration plan, forcing the casings to be reinstated regardless.

The three broad alternatives

1. Phased repair (the option being recommended)

• Targets only the most critical, life-expired elements to keep the bridge safely open to pedestrians, cyclists, and river traffic — does not restore vehicle access.
• Estimated cost: ~£128m, to be funded via a bid to the Government’s new £1bn “Structures Fund.”
• Includes reinstating the historic pedestal casings.
• Must be fully delivered by 31 March 2030 (a Structures Fund condition), which is too tight a deadline for full restoration — hence this scaled-back scope.
• Risk: if the bid fails or is only partly funded, the Council would still face the £1.5m/year baseline costs with no capital to fix underlying problems.

2. Full restoration for pedestrians/cyclists only (no vehicles)

• Previously assessed at ~£250m — almost as expensive as restoring for vehicles, because most of the structural work is the same regardless of end use.
• Not currently viable within the Structures Fund deadline or budget.

3. Full restoration including vehicle access

• Estimated at ~£300m (up from an earlier £250m estimate).
• Would require re-engineering for vehicle loads and reopening the long-stalled Outline Business Case, which has not progressed since 2021 in part due to it being deprioritised by central government for IPDC review.
• Not achievable within the Structures Fund’s 2030 deadline, and no other funding route currently exists for this scale of work.
• A road-user toll/charge was previously proposed as a way to pay for this option, but that mechanism only works if vehicles return to the bridge — so it’s off the table under the phased-repair approach.

Other risk factors mentioned

• Costs could rise further from unforeseen issues (cast iron is described as prone to sudden failure, and the structure is unusually complex to maintain).
• Any cost overruns on a Structures Fund-funded scheme would have to be met by the Council, not central government.
• Traffic data review found that removing vehicles from Hammersmith Bridge appears to have reduced (not redistributed) traffic on nearby bridges overall, with cycling increasing at all of them.