Robert Moses wouldn't have put up with this nonsense. The man who did more than practically any other to shape modern-day New York would have taken one look at Hammersmith Bridge and ordered it rebuilt at any price. Though, being Moses, it probably would have involved 16 lanes, the unnecessary demolition of hundreds of homes and the total subjugation of City Hall.
The timeline looks something like this: Hammersmith Bridge was shut in April 2019 by Hammersmith and Fulham Council after safety sensors detected “dangerous micro-fractures” in the cast-iron pedestals that hold the suspension system in place. It reopened to cyclists and pedestrians in July 2021, but drivers have been forced to divert to Chiswick Bridge or Putney Bridge ever since.
