Hammersmith Bridge – what we know …

Hammersmith Bridge is open

The bridge is closed to motor traffic, but not to walking and cycling. Might seem like sophistry to you, but words matter in charged debates like this.

Hammersmith Bridge used to be a horrible, traffic choked hellhole

Before it closed to motor traffic, in 2019, Grade 2* listed Hammersmith Bridge supported around 25,000 motor vehicle movements per day. Data from soon after closure to motor traffic showed that at least 9,000 of these journeys were no longer being made in the same way – 16,000 journeys were being made over other bridges, following the change.

(See this FoIA request: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/traffic_changes_resulting_from_h)

After the COVID lockdowns, traffic returned to very similar levels, with only the Upper Richmond Road and Mortlake Road showing increases between March 2019 and January 2023.

(Data from Possible, shown here.)

Barnes hasn’t become a shop-less ghost town

Predictions of a significant negative impact on Barnes businesses have not materialised, indeed Barnes has continued to thrive with an increasingly vibrant and varied high street offer supported by residents and attracting in thousands of visitors.

A majority want it for walking, cycling and potentially electric shuttles – only 36% of survey respondents want 25,000 vehicles a day back in Castlenau

As shown in this 1,048 person survey done in March 2023.

Traffic across all nearby bridges is down against the numbers before closing to motor vehicles

DfT data shows every bridge recording lower traffic counts by 2024, including Wandsworth and Putney. This data bears out similar tracking elsewhere – general traffic is down in SouthWest London, and crossing traffic is also down.

It isn’t a problem for emergency services

From the Possible report: “The London Ambulance Service say that they have “never released any information about the closure impacting response times” and that “our response times may have gone up in the last five years but there would be many different factors to explain that.” 

The London Fire Brigade told us they have rerouted 999 calls from Barnes to Richmond fire station instead of Hammersmith fire station, and data from their response time records show that there has been no increase in 999 fire brigade response times in the Barnes peninsula since the bridge closed.”

Air quality in Barnes is a whole lot better – but MIlestone Green (Sheen) is now the worst air pollution in the borough

This data from Richmond Council shows that air quality has improved at the two main sites in Barnes. However it also shows that the sensor on Upper Richmond Road West (the A205) near Sheen Lane has the worst air quality in the borough. (But air pollution is trending downwards across the borough, and this is not about a significant rise at Sheen Lane.)

There are alternatives to walking and cycling that don’t need us to spend £250m on this bridge

The proposals by Possible, along with the Barnes Community Association’s ‘rickshaw’ service showed that the bridge can carry on providing access to all without assuming the use of cars.

People are driving less, across the affected area

DfT data (table below) shows that, compared to 2019, the neighbouring boroughs have all seen less driving overall. Opening the bridge to cars again is a guaranteed way to reverse this trend.

Additionally the Mayor’s office reported better air quality and less driving in neighbouring boroughs, in this answer.

And therefore:

Although there’s been an increase in traffic on parts of the A205, this isn’t provably linked to Hammersmith Bridge

DfT manual count data shows small increases in overall traffic numbers, with 2019 showing 18,151 cars per day and 2023 estimating 18,995 cars per day. Combined with bus data showing bus now running slightly faster in 2022/23 than in 2019, it’s clearly wrong to assert that the area is any worse because of the bridge.

A Bridge for walking, cycling and pods / other accessible options would be a centre for regeneration

London needs to keep cutting the number of car journeys – both as a total, and as a percentage of all journeys – in order to have a chance to meet Climate Change targets. £250m spent on just turning this into another traffic sewer will be a waste of precious political time as well as money. Instead, this could genuinely be an active travel hub and an oasis of calm – we could leave Joseph Bazalgette’s beautiful bridge as an icon for the next generation.

For more on the bridge, check out Fare City’s A to Z: https://farecity.org/2019/11/18/hammersmith-bridge-a-z/