An 87-year-old bridge that was closed to prevent “loss of life” after cracks were found in its structure would cost at least £25m to rebuild, a meeting has heard.
Broadmead Road Bridge in Woodford closed to drivers in July 2023 after it was found to be suffering from “extensive structural defects”.
Issues included cracks, falling concrete and corrosion affecting the entire bridge, which runs over the Central line.
At a public meeting on November 18, one Redbridge Council officer said this left the local authority with no choice but to block off the bridge “to prevent potential loss of life or serious injury”.
Council leader Kam Rai added that inspections suggest that the bridge, which was built in 1937, requires “substantial work” costing at least £25 million.
Pedestrians have been able to use the bridge during the closure and it was also reopened last month for motorbikes and bicycles.
But reopening the bridge to cars and heavier vehicles could involve partial renewal of the structure, or a full demolition and rebuild.
Next spring, councillors will have to decide on what works the bridge will undergo based on an "options report" expected to be published before the end of June.
The timeline for the bridge’s reopening will depend entirely on how extensive the needed repairs are, Cllr Rai said.
“We are all hopeful that the options report gives us a solution to reopen the bridge fairly quickly, but I know that’s a long-shot,” he added.
Cllr Rai explained that if the council decides it needs to spend in excess of £25m to repair the bridge, it would have to borrow that money.
This would add between £3m and £4m to the council’s day-to-day spending, so would likely lead to spending cuts in other parts of the council’s budget.
“My focus right now is to get government and regional government to understand the bridge isn’t something that should be forced upon a local authority to repair when cuts to local government funding have been among the harshest,” he said.
“We will be fighting our corner and fighting for any penny we can get.”
Council officers also defended Redbridge’s approach to maintaining the 220m bridge, which it has had responsibility for since 1985.
They acknowledged that Transport for London (TfL) first raised concerns about the bridge in 2014 – but said that maintenance was carried out on the bridge at the time and that subsequent inspections before last year found it was structurally safe.
Cllr Rai also promised to hold another public meeting to update residents in February next year.
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