Transport for London (TfL) has forecast further cost increases related to patching up the Capital’s ageing surface transport assets.
In total, TfL spent a record £2.9M on implementing interim measures for its road tunnels and bridges during the last year, with a further £3.3M spent on reactive safety measures, agenda papers released ahead of this week’s TfL programmes and investment committee meeting reveal. That is up by almost £1.4M compared to the previous year and represents a 995% increase in spending since 2016/17. (See table below for year-by-year breakdown.)
The number of assets with interim measures in place has also more than doubled in the last six years, with an additional six structures requiring interim action within the past year. In total, 54 TfL road tunnels and bridges currently have interim safety measures in places. An additional six structures are forecast to need interim measures during the next year, with £6.8M put aside for interim and reactive safety measures during 2022/23.
Interim measures include speed restrictions, weight or width restrictions, lane closures or even carriageway or road closures. Noteworthy examples include weight limits at Rotherhithe Tunnel, speed restrictions on the A40 Westway and the closure of Hammersmith Bridge to all motorised traffic.