Lord Lee and his colleagues of the Royal Commission deserve
hearty thanks for their remarkable Report on the Thames bridges. They have carried the controversy on to the right level and shown that the planning of 'adequate bridges is part of a series of connected problems covering a huge geographical area. It may be taken now that Waterloo Bridge will be saved, though the roadway will be widened to thirty-five feet. Among the daring proposals are a combined road and footway from Southwark Street to Holborn Viaduct ; a new double-deck bridge at Charing Cross, with the erection of a new Charing Cross Station (a little further east on the north side of the river) and a continuation of the bridge over the Strand to St. Martin's Place ; the abandonment of the St. Paul's bridge proposal ; the rebuilding of Wandsworth Bridge ; the widening of Putney and Hammersmith bridges ; two new bridges near Dorset Wharf and Chiswick Ferry respectively, for western exits, the Dorset Wharf bridge to be connected with Cromwell Road by a new road and bridge over the railway ; and the adoption of the Dartford-Purflect tunnel scheme.
This programme would cost about £27,500,000. * * * *
Previous page
