New £20m Thames bridge to link Ham and Twickenham
PROPOSED STRUCTURE FOR PEDESTRIANS AND CYCLISTS
RICHMOND Council has put forward a £20 million bid for a cycling and walking bridge between Twickenham and Ham.
The bid was announced at the transport and air quality committee meeting on Thursday June 18, which was coincidentally the deadline for applications.
Just a week earlier the Financial Times revealed that the government had contacted mayors and local business leaders for “shovelready” projects that would create jobs, support “green recovery” and be created within 18 months to help the economy recover from the damage of the coronavirus lockdown.
It is one of the first glimpses into economic stimulus plans being pushed forward by the government.
In their manifesto, the Conservatives promised £100 billion of additional capital investment over the five-year parliament, and it is now thought this could be spent earlier than planned.
Alexander Ehmann, chairman of Richmond’s transport and air quality committee, said the bid for the bridge was “bold and ambitious” and praised officers for putting it together in just one week.
“These are genuinely superhuman levels of activity from our officers, so thank you very much,” he said.
He added that the exact location and specification of the bridge has yet to be determined.
Nick O’Donnell, assistant director of traffic and engineering at the council, explained that the council had conducted a consultation in relation to potential bridge crossings about a year ago.
It looked at 16 locations, which were later shortlisted to two, focused towards the Twickenham end.
“We’ve suggested that there is a possibility of that potentially being accelerated as a project, and one that would meet a lot of the criteria in terms of connectivity and supporting walking and cycling,” he said.