City

Are London’s bridges falling down?

14 Sep, 2020

The Hammersmith Bridge is closed due to a very serious risk of collapse.

As the "City," London’s financial district, empties due to the effects of the covid-19 pandemic, other parts of the British capital are seeing construction sites multiply.

The Hammersmith Bridge, that connects the homonym district to the Barnes neighbourhood on the Southern side of the Thames, is closed due to a very serious risk of collapse.

Also read:

Thirteen Royal Guards arrested after rave party

Restoring the Hammersmith Bridge would cost 140 million pounds. To carry out at least a partial repair, allowing pedestrians and cyclists to continue to use it, would cost less than half, but finding public funds is proving more difficult than initially thought.

The condition of the bridge is so alarming that authorities have been forced to ban the underlying maritime traffic as well. Therefore, not even the historic Oxford-Cambridge regatta can be held this year, or at least not along the traditional route.

Also read:

British Airways dismantles entire Boeing 747 fleet

Two other historic London bridges, the London Bridge and the Vauxhall Bridge, are also closed for restoration works. Even Tower Bridge, the most famous bridge in the city, which opens to allow the passage of ships along the Thames, has recently had to close for two days due to a mechanical failure that, after the passage of a boat, had left its drawbridges open and suspended.

Ph: inProgressImaging / Shutterstock.com