Tag: structures

• Is the new fix the same as the old fix?

  I have received some more information from Transport for London (TfL) about the “safety-critical” weight restriction on Vauxhall Bridge and its “long-term” plan to fix the structure, which seems to be to try harder to find funding for long-postponed refurbishment work.
  
  TfL announced last week that from July vehicles over 18 tonnes will be prohibited from using the bridge, with the exception of (a large number of) buses and emergency vehicles.
  
  It said this followed an assessment that showed that elements of the structure had deteriorated and that it has “a lower weight-bearing capacity than previously assessed”.
  
  It has told me that the issue is “a newly identified defect, found during our most recent inspection”.

  

  TfL says it has a programme of regular inspections for all structures across its road network, “with associated refurbishment projects where required”.
  
  But, in the case of Vauxhall Bridge, the knowledge that significant refurbishment is needed has not caused such refurbishment to be delivered – and it may still not.

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  2026.05.20

• Alexander: We’ll cross that bridge when… oh, wait

  Transport for London (TfL) is to introduce a “safety-critical” 18 tonne weight restriction on Vauxhall Bridge from July, after it failed to find the cash to do “top priority” renewal works that Heidi Alexander deferred in 2018.

  It said the restriction follows a recent assessment that showed that elements of the structure had “recently” deteriorated and that it has “a lower weight-bearing capacity than previously assessed”.
  
  While emergency vehicles and buses will be exempt from the restriction, the 0.5% of current traffic that is above 18 tonnes will be required to use a signed diversion.

  The weight restriction will remain in place while TfL works to resolve the problems as quickly as possible and continues to develop a long-term plan for the bridge

  The issue with these structures, as with the original Severn Bridge, is not individual (ordinarily) heavy vehicles, but the risk that too many will be on the bridge at the same time.
  
  

  

  The imposition of such restrictions has been on the cards since TfL postponed planned renewals work on the bridge in 2018, estimated at the time to cost £40-70m.
  
  This was part of a “two-year pro-active renewals freeze”, which included the deferral of major proactive renewals on London’s roads, as described in this paper to TfL’s Programmes and Investment Committee.
  
  Attending the meeting as deputy mayor for transport was Heidi Alexander, now transport secretary.
  
  The paper noted:

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  2026.05.13

• DfT stretches £1bn for local roads into “record” funding

  The Department for Transport (DfT) has doubled down on its refusal to reveal how much money is in its so-called “Structures Fund” for “fixing” bridges, flyovers and tunnels on English local authority roads.
  
  By way of a recap, all it is saying is that the fund shares £1bn (implicitly up to 2029-30) with local authority road upgrades, another funding stream that is likely to be very heavily oversubscribed.
  
  As I have pointed out, not only does the absence of dedicated funding call into question whether it should be called a fund at all, but the fact that some structures on the local authority network already get upgrade funding when they need “fixing” calls into question whether a discrete fund – as opposed to a statement of priorities – is even necessary.
  
  What we do know is that, unlike other local road upgrades, funding for structures is currently a one-off under the 2025 Spending Review and councils have a limited window this spring to put in bids.

  Funding decisions will be announced in Autumn 2026, with all successful schemes required to complete works by March 2030.

  The DfT has suggested to me that it may be able to say how much is in the fund when funding decisions are announced, which is in some ways a statement of the obvious, as we could tot up all the individual allocations.
  
  The department has also said that:

  A local contribution must be included in the submission. No minimum local contribution to costs has been set, however proposals with a higher contribution will be assessed positively.

  

  This means that the DfT could fit its contribution within a set budget, if it exists, by adjusting local authority contributions.
  
  It has been suggested to me by someone who knows about this sort of thing that the DfT may be keeping the size of the pot under wraps so as neither to give the impression that it is not worth applying or to suggest that it will fund any old scheme.
  
  The DfT has said it expects the “fund” to be oversubscribed, which would of course suit it because:

  Details of schemes that do not receive a funding award will be retained by the department in support of building the evidence base for investing in local highways structures in the future.

  This implicitly means post-2030 under a future spending review.
  
  With the DfT pointing out that…

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  2026.04.22

• All structure and no funding?

  The launch of the Structures Fund today comes with the usual mix of hype and a lack of detail, with the continued failure to confirm that the fund has dedicated funding again strengthening doubts that it actually exists.

  From the fanfare that the Department for Transport has given the fund in a press release headed “fixing the foundations”, you would think it has solved the problem:

  Government is backing councils across England to fix crumbling bridges, failing flyovers and deteriorating tunnels as the new Structures Fund opens today in the latest move to back drivers.

  Decades of neglected infrastructure have led to weight-restricted crossings adding miles to everyday journeys and deteriorating flyovers, leaving communities unsure when the next closure will come. The new fund will put money directly into the hands of councils to tackle the most pressing cases they cannot afford to fix alone.

  The fund is now open for bids and will inject cash into repairing critical structures across England, ensuring transport infrastructure is more resilient to extreme weather, while making everyday journeys safer, smoother and more dependable.

  The phrase “across England” – used twice – is typical PR language to make it look as if the funding will be universal, where as we are very much back to the bad old days of competitive bidding, with the reality being that money will be put into the hands of *some* councils and some journeys will improve.

  

  Always happy to go along with the hype, transport secretary Heidi Alexander is reported to have said:

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  2026.04.15

• “Britain’s bridges are crumbling”

  The Telegraph has an article on what it calls a “crisis in British bridges”, focusing on the closure of a couple of Thames crossings but said to be “by no means limited to west London”.

  It’s an important story, but a terrible article. Let’s start with:

  Last summer, the Government spoke of a £1bn Structures Fund to “inject cash into repairing run down bridges”. Slightly worryingly, the statement mentioned that approximately 3,000 bridges nationwide were not fit for 21st-century purpose and that the number of collapses had risen. “A stark reminder of the need for urgent action,” it warned.

  But bridge experts say that not only is the 3,000 figure likely to be on the low side, but £1bn will not be anywhere near enough money to solve the issue – not least because local authorities will have to bid against each other for the money.

  In fact, as I have pointed out before, the £1bn is to be split between the Structures Fund and local road upgrades, so it won’t be anywhere near anywhere near enough money.

  The article also quotes the Department for Transport as saying that “stakeholders” will be surveyed to determine how best to deliver the Structures Fund, when this actually happened two months ago.

  

  It also cites a 2021 survey by ADEPT/the RAC foundation as the source of the 3,000 figure, when in fact the latest is a 2023 survey published in March 2024.

  It’s on firmer ground (sorry) when it cites RAC Foundation director Steve Gooding:

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  2026.04.10

• Long-overdue…today…shortly…don’t hold your breath

  Ministers are still unable to give a date for the opening of the Department for Transport’s (DfT) mythical “Structures Fund”, nine months after announcing it.

  

  Two written parliamentary answers from roads minister and serial information concealer Simon Lightwood used “in due course” – which translates as “we can’t/won’t tell you” – in relation to finding out even how the fund will work.

  The longer answer, in relation to a question from LibDem MP Sarah Olney about how many sites the DfT has shortlisted to potentially receive funding, made clear that we are nowhere near that point:

  The Department for Transport surveyed local highway authorities and transport stakeholders on the assessment criteria for the Structures Fund in February 2026. We are currently considering the responses and will confirm the final prioritisation criteria in due course. Once these criteria are published, the Fund will be opened for investment proposals from local authorities, and the Department will then be able to confirm which, and how many, schemes are to receive funding from the Structures Fund.

  Which is unfortunate because, when announcing the fund, transport secretary Heidi Alexander said:

  Our structures fund will make long-overdue investments to repair ageing structures across the country…

  Rather bafflingly, the DfT said:

  Capital investment today will … address these immediate risks over the next five years.

  Adding:

  We will set out more detail about how funding will be allocated shortly. 

  When I say it’s a mythical fund it’s because I take the old-fashioned view that a fund isn’t really a fund unless you put money into it and the DfT still hasn’t said how much of the £1bn it announced last June, to be shared with local road upgrades, will be available for structures.

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  2026.03.09