Showing its age: built almost 60 years ago, the Croydon Flyover’s concrete pillars are flaking and rusting
Vital safety works to repair the ageing Croydon Flyover could begin next year, according to Transport for London.
It is three years since TfL highlighted the need to undertake safety works on the A232 urban motorway which runs from Park Lane out to Duppas Hill, and only now is the capital’s transport authority able to consider taking on this multi-million-pound project.
The Croydon Flyover is built of reinforced concrete, and was completed in 1969, bisecting Croydon Old Town from Waddon. The Flyover is used by 40,000 vehicles a day.
It is increasingly showing its age, its pillars flaking and chipping off chunks to reveal the rusting steel framework beneath. When the Hammersmith Flyover in west London, which was completed in 1961, had to be closed in 2013 for similar repairs, the project took two years and cost £100million.
TfL has estimated that it needs to spend £2billion on its entire road network to prevent key road bridges and tunnels from shutting.
According to a report in trade magazine New Civil Engineer, “The deteriorating condition of TfL’s road structures has been a long time coming.
Danger list: how the Croydon Flyover featured in reports to the TfL board in 2022 as a road in urgent need of safety works
“Last year [2021], TfL meeting agenda papers revealed that the cost of patching up London’s surface transport assets has increased by 762per cent during the last five years. This includes all bridges and tunnels in the capital as well as River Thames crossings.
“TfL attributes this increase to delays and budget cuts to its surface transport assets renewal programme, which includes major repair work to at risk structures including the Rotherhithe Tunnel, A40 Westway, Vauxhall Bridge and Hammersmith Bridge.”
Liar: Boris Johnson
It was the New Civil Engineer that revealed that more money – £53million – was spent developing plans for Boris Johnson’s fantasy Garden Bridge project when the Tory was London Mayor than TfL had spent on maintaining 25 River Thames crossings. During his mayoralty, Johnson also managed to “spaff” a further £13million on proposals for a bridge between Rotherhithe and Canary Wharf before that plan was axed in 2019.
Croydon has already been hard-hit by Tory government cut-backs imposed at TfL, with long-promised and carefully planned traffic schemes prepared for the busy Fiveways Junction on the A23 Purley Way, and for the area around Old Town and Roman Way, being scrapped by order of Whitehall.
TfL’s latest proposals for the Croydon Flyover include carrying out concrete repairs, waterproofing, replacing expansion joints and fitting new lighting. The road way is often left dark for night time drivers due to the disrepair of its lighting system.
Design work for the repairs has been completed and TfL is waiting for a funding green light from central government.
When the works on the Hammersmith Flyover were completed, it was declared safe to use for decades to come and the expectation was that it would require less regular maintenance work, meaning less congestion and traffic delays.
The works at Hammersmith were extensive and included:
- Four miles of new tensioning cables, installed and fully tensioned, restoring strength within the structure
- The entire flyover re-waterproofed and resurfaced with new drainage installed within the structure
- More than 150 tons of steel beams and bars installed inside the flyover to hold the new tensioning system and reinforce the concrete
- Two 5 ton expansion joints within the carriageway were replaced, allowing the structure to flex as traffic moves across it
- All 34 bearings supporting the flyover have been replaced, allowing it to adapt to weather conditions and expand in the summer and shrink in the winter by up to 6in
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