How old is hammersmith bridge

At the end of the 18th century he had made an unsuccessful attempt to create a tunnel under the Thames from Tilbury to Gravesend. He had more success with the creation of the Surrey Grand Canal at around the same time. He then turned his attention to the making of a crossing over the river between the City and Lambeth, that eventually opened as Waterloo Bridge.

In the early 19 th century the need for a bridge between Hammersmith and the Surrey side of the river was becoming ever-more necessary. A dry crossing would save a detour of five miles via Fulham or Kew bridges for those wishing to pass between Hammersmith and Barnes.

In Dodd promoted a parliamentary bill to build a privately-owned toll-crossing at Hammersmith. The bridge has been closed indefinitely to motorists since April when "critical faults" in the cast-iron casing were found.

From Saturday, boats will also be allowed to pass under the bridge again. A report prepared for Hammersmith Council said checks on the four pedestals and the supporting chains had provided the necessary reassurance. Without a funded plan for repair, the limited current use must cease eventually.

The councils had been exploring the option of a passenger ferry service, including plans for piers on either side of the Thames. The long-term future of the bridge, and who should pay for repairs or replacement, remains a controversial issue.

DfT accused of contempt over bridge repair funding. Hammersmith Bridge toll could be imposed. Today, there are a number of security cameras on the bridge, which may be due to these past terrorist threats or simply due to the large number of security cameras in London in general. This bridge embodies the core of what makes so many old bridges more beautiful than modern bridges: an attention to detail and architectural design that is integral with the functioning bridge structure.

Modern bridge design involves designing the most simple and plain bridge possible, ignoring form and focusing on function only, with the goal being to come up with a bridge that is structurally redundant and cheap. If there is enough public demand for a "beautiful" bridge, engineers do not generally change the design of the bridge structure, and instead attempt to meet that demand by attaching elements to these simple structures that they feel have aesthetic qualities.

These added elements are usually generic cookie cutter type elements that are applicable to just about any bridge type, design, and location. In contrast, old bridges were made beautiful by first selecting a functional bridge structure that even without embellishments and attachments would be attractive, such as a suspension bridge with graceful curves of a catenary contrasting with imposing towers. Selected decorative elements were not generic, they were specifically designed to compliment the location and type bridge bridge they were being placed on.

The decorations do not hide the function and design of the bridge. The end product is a bridge whose design and function is attractive and apparent, and is enhanced with appropriate decorations specifically designed to compliment the functioning bridge structure. The Hammersmith Bridge illustrates all these concepts of old and beautiful bridge design beautifully. Integral decorations on the Hammersmith Bridge are visible in the corbelling and inset shaped on the towers, as well as the shaped anchorage design.

The decorative copulas on top of the towers are actually functional elements, acting as protective covers for the saddle and bearings for the eyebar catenaries. Non-functional decorative elements on the bridge such as decorative finials and the medallions on the anchorages are made of similar materials as the functioning bridge structure, and are also elements unique to the Hammersmith Bridge.

Thanks to attention from people aware of the importance of the Hammersmith Bridge and other bridges with heritage value in London, the design of the Hammersmith Bridge is further enhanced by a beautiful paint scheme of green for the overall structure, and gold paint used to highlight decorative details. The bridge features paint colors that appear to have been carefully chosen to fit the design and location of the bridge.

The green color of the bridge is a calm, pleasing color that makes the bridge visible without causing it to dominate the landscape. The gold highlighting acts to catch the eye and draw attention to the beautiful details of the bridge. The beautiful paint scheme of the Hammersmith Bridge which today matches the original colors chosen by its designer and some other heritage bridges in London is something that is strikingly different from what is found in North America, where nearly all bridges have only a single paint color regardless of any decorations or features in the bridge design.

A rare multi-colored example in North America is Mackinac Bridge , which has ivory colored paint on the suspension bridge towers and green paint on the cables, stiffening truss, and deck. In most cases however, bridges have a single paint color, with no alternate color s to distinguish different features and decorations on a bridge.

In some cases, these single paint schemes may tend to hide ornate decorative details or make a complex bridge appear more plain and simple than it really is. The beauty and positive public perception of many bridges with heritage value in North America might be enhanced if a multi-color paint scheme were carefully designed for bridges that would benefit from it. A bridge like the Indiana Avenue Bridge would benefit from a two color scheme, with the alternate color being used to highlight the decorative finials, portal bracing decoration, and decorative railings.

Possibly, a third color could be employed to highlight members on the truss, to visually separate diagonal and vertical members for instance, or whatever scheme an artist or architect thought would look best. While the plaques on the bridge have a different color, the ornate sway bracing knees do not stand out from the rest of the traditional composed members, nor does the portal bracing decoration.

The aforementioned Old Wells Street Bridge also leads into another problem found with bridges in North America, which is the paint color chosen for a bridge, whether it is a single color or multiple colors. The problem is that unlike the Hammersmith Bridge, the color chosen is not one which compliments or benefits the specific and unique design of each bridge. In some cases, the paint color chosen is a standard color that a particular agency county, state, province, etc uses on all its bridges.

In the case of historic preservation projects, paint color may be determined by any number of factors, which are usually unapparent to the general public and may not involve seeking assistance from a professional with experience working with color schemes.

Elements of the bridge that need repair, including the decking, would be lifted away using the temporary bridge as a works platform and transported by barges to an off-site facility for safe repair and restoration.

Historic England, which has been already been involved in discussions about the plan, will need to approve the works which enable the bridge to be restored to its original Victorian splendour with fewer constraints. According to the feasibility report, provided planning and procurement is in place by the end of this year, the bridge could reopen for pedestrians and cyclists by the summer of and motor vehicles two months later.

The full restoration could be completed in , three years earlier than the current proposal. The page report detailed funding and future governance options for Hammersmith Bridge, including toll and road charging proposals, to provide the best value for local and national taxpayers. As of 23 June , no response had yet been received from the department. Each party would agree to pay a share of the cost. This work is ongoing.

The Taskforce was informed that no borough council has ever paid 33 per cent of repair works for any London bridges. Historically, TfL has paid 85 per cent for repair works on London bridges owned by borough councils. On safety grounds. On 13 August new sensors positioned throughout the bridge alerted engineers to a rapid and sudden increase in the size of dangerous micro-fractures in the cast iron pedestals that hold the 19th century suspension structure in place.

Cast iron is brittle and can shatter and the expansion of the micro-fractures posed the serious risk that the bridge could suddenly and with little warning collapse, so on urgent safety grounds it had to be closed to all users, including river traffic. The engineers discovered that the microfractures are a consequence of decades of unchecked corrosion that is riddled throughout the suspension structure. The current administration commissioned a Comprehensive Structural Integrity Review CSIR of the bridge in , the first in its history, with the objective of understanding if the bridge was structurally sound.

As part of the review, the council hired a team of world class specialist engineers, started weekly safety inspections and installed hi-tech sensors all over the bridge to check if stresses were causing structural damage. These investigations revealed the extent of structural problems with the bridge — its natural and necessary flexibility had become compromised, causing critical fractures in the pedestals that anchor the bridge into the ground.

Specialist engineers have put together comprehensive plans to fix the year-old bridge. The bridge can be fixed, the plans are ready and work could start immediately. Securing the necessary funds to pay for this major infrastructure project is less straight forward. No council has that kind of money available, even before the multi-million pounds cost of the coronavirus pandemic.

Hammersmith Bridge is a strategically important river crossing and a main London transport artery. TfL has made a series of bids to government for the funding of the Hammersmith Bridge works which have all been rejected. Only the government and the private sector has the sort of sums needed.

The taskforce is exploring funding options. The reserves are critical to ensuring that the council is in a position at all times to maintain its hundreds of statutory duties and services to residents including protecting children at risk of abuse, providing care to the elderly and disabled, maintaining roads and parks, collecting refuse, tackling homelessness and keeping libraries open.

Our reserves are below average among London councils. This is agreed each year as part of the budget strategy. We have a duty to residents to keep the council on a firm financial footing.