A trip (literally) across Putney Bridge

Members of my campaign team have again taken their lives in their hands to document the damage to Putney Bridge. Following on from yesterday's post on the potholes on the St Mary's Church side of the bridge, let's just take a walk on the Putney Embankment side - from Bishops Park to Lower Richmond Road...

...First up an example just past the bus stop on the Fulham side of why cycling across the bridge is so hazardous - the bridge is pockmarked with these craters: not huge, but enough to unseat a cyclist. And just look at the crevice running off the pothole: it's these that erode so quickly creating even more dangers and allowing far more surface water to get into the bridge's fabric.



Here's another example of the deep fissures that are opening up right across the bridge: again, dangerous for cyclists and accelerating the erosion of the bridge by allowing rain water to penetrate more quickly and deeply:



You'll see several examples of how the Conservatives' botched patching is so inadequate: the sheer volume and weight of traffic over the bridge quickly break up the temporary fixes. But that's the problem: the Conservatives are using temporary fixes instead of having a serious programme to maintain and resurface the bridge:


This is at the apex of the bridge. Two things to note here: not only has another temporary fix around the manhole eroded, creating a pretty large crater right in the middle of the carriageway; but look also at how the entire section around the manhole is sinking into the bridge:



I mentioned in yesterday's post on the bridge the deep ruts that have opened up right along the "join" between lanes on the other (Putney-bound) side of the bridge. Here's a clearer, closer example of what I'm talking about. How on earth can a cyclist navigate this sort of damage safely?



Another of the increasingly alarming fissures opening up across the bridge -I highlighted this one a few weeks ago on the blog - it's got worse since then:



Not the worst example of the Conservatives' neglect of the bridge, but this photo - just before the bus stop on the Putney side of the bridge - shows how the road surface is being stripped away:



...And this photo, looking back towards Fulham, shows just how pockmarked and cratered the entire bridge surface is:



This is right by the bus stop on the Putney side of the Bridge - another of the Tories' short term botches falling apart:



Another of the craters that make crossing the bridge a nightmare for cyclists - this one's just by the bus stop for buses terminating at Putney Bridge Station:



And another collapsing manhole - this one just past the junction with Lower Richmond Road:



Another major pothole by the junction of Lower Richmond Road:



And last but not least: