Albert Bridge is now fully closed. Pedestrians and cyclists were banned from using the 153-year-old Thames crossing yesterday after engineers detected “slight movement” in the structure during inspection. The bridge had been shut to motor vehicles since February after a cast-iron component cracked. Until Wednesday morning it remained open on foot and by bike.
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea says contractors are on site. Andrew Burton, RBKC’s director of highway and regulatory services, said the closure would remain in place “while we continue to monitor the bridge’s movements over the next 24 hours.” Repairs are expected to cost £8.5m and take about a year.
The closure is the latest in a cascade of failures affecting Thames crossings west of central London. Three of the river crossings that carry traffic through this corridor are now compromised at the same time.
Sounds eerily familiar…
Hammersmith Bridge has been closed to vehicles since April 2019, with no reopening date set. Albert Bridge is now shut to everyone. Wandsworth Bridge will lose lanes from May to October for major repair works (announced earlier this week). Putney Bridge, built in 1886, is the last fully open crossing in the corridor. It already carries 16% more vehicles than it did before Hammersmith closed.
In February, RBKC’s lead member for environment and planning, Cllr Johnny Thalassites, said of the Albert Bridge closure: “I certainly don’t want this to be another Hammersmith Bridge.” The bridge is now shut to everyone.
Four days ago, Putney.news published an investigation into the governance failures behind London’s bridge crisis. The London Assembly warned in 2021 that the patchwork system of ownership, with different bridges owned by different boroughs and authorities and no central oversight, was failing. None of the Assembly’s five recommendations were implemented. The escalation this week confirms the pattern.
The Albert Bridge, nicknamed “The Trembling Lady” shortly after it opened, is one of only two Thames crossings never to have been replaced, along with Tower Bridge. It carried 20,000 vehicles a day before the February closure. The repair programme (which also includes unseizing an axle, laying a new road surface, and refurbishing the original toll booths and lighting) was already scoped before engineers detected the structural movement this week.
Putney.news has submitted five freedom of information requests to the authorities responsible for Thames bridges in this corridor, including requests to RBKC for Albert Bridge inspection records going back to 2013 and to Wandsworth Council for Putney Bridge condition data. Responses are due before the end of the month. We reported the full picture of what we asked and why in our bridges investigation.
RBKC is expected to provide an update on the 24-hour monitoring period before the end of the week.
