Transport Insights

The Treasury has now published its press release on a £1 billion Structures Fund that it says “will inject cash into repairing run down bridges, decaying flyovers and worn out tunnels across Britain, and ensure other transport infrastructure is both more resilient to extreme weather events and to the demands of modern transport”.

Most of this £1bn – £590m – will go on the Lower Thames Crossing.

The cash is part of the forthcoming 10-year infrastructure strategy but the press release said the cash “today” will “address these immediate risks over the next five years”.

It added:

“We will set out more detail about how funding will be allocated shortly. This funding is additional to the funding local authorities will receive for highways maintenance, which will be set out in due course.”

This is an entirely meaningless statement, beyond the “shortly” and “in due course”. It appears to imply that the cash will be allocated to English highway authorities, but how can it be additional to funding that hasn’t been announced yet? It literally is funding for highways maintenance.

The Treasury press release rightly points out that:

Across Great Britain, approximately 3,000 bridges are currently unable to support the heaviest vehicles, restricting access for agricultural and freight transport in regions, and slowing down journeys.

And nationally, the number of bridge collapses has also risen – a stark reminder of the need for urgent action to turn the tide on the decade of neglect.

This brings us back to treasury minister Emma Reynolds’ “car crash” interview on LBC this morning, where she was asked when the Hammersmith Bridge might re-open.

She replied: “I’m not here to talk about the Hammersmith Bridge, I’m not a transport minister.”

In fact she was there to talk about an announcement of government funding for “renewal of broken bridges”.