Controversial plans for a six lane, £500 million bridge between Beckton and Thamesmead have been dismissed by a group of transport analysts working for Transport for London. The preferable solution to the capital's transport woes? An alpine-style cable car, which could be up and running in time for the city's Olympic celebrations.
Plans for the bridge have been criticized in the past by local people and by environmental groups. Friends of the Earth opposes the developer's assertion that the bridge would help to rejuvenate a deprived area of the city, an idea supported by ex-Mayor Ken Livingstone. The environmental group point out that rates of car ownership are low in these parts of London, and that increased traffic levels would only bring more pollution and congestion there.
Road transport is also a massive contributing factor to climate change, and the building of a six-lane road bridge, even if it was tailored toward use by buses and taxis, would surely send out a mixed signal to car owners. The latest study used six possible types of river crossing, such as a pedestrian and cycle-only bridge, a rail-only bridge and a river-ferry. It found that the least preferable method of crossing would be the road-only bridge, but that a cable car would be the cheapest and most sustainable form of crossing.
The analysts work is crucial because previous public consultation on the bridge was criticized as giving no alternative schemes, suggesting instead a situation where there could either be a huge road bridge or nothing.
If the plans for a cable car are successful then London would join other cities such as New York, Madrid, Vancouver and Cologne, each of whom already boast one. Cable cars are favored as mass transit systems because they require little space. Planners predict that the Thames scheme would have a very short waiting time as cable cars would be moving at around 20 mph and arrive every 22 seconds. The crossing itself would take around two minutes, far quicker than it takes to crawl over a gridlocked road bridge.
It seems fitting that an environmentally friendly mass transport system is being considered for the nation's capital, and the news has been welcomed by Friends of the Earth. If tourists are willing to sit in the London Eye, effectively a cable car which leaves from point A to return to point A, then it seems likely that a cable car which actually transports them somewhere might serve as another attraction for the city.
Related posts
Posted under Articles, Environmental News
This post was written by Matthew Gammie on May 22, 2008