Commuting times between Rotherhithe and Canary Wharf could be slashed by 20 minutes, a report into London’s first proposed pedestrian and cycle bridge across the Thames has said.
The number of journeys saved by the use of the bridge is estimated at around fifteen full tube trains or 150 buses a day, the feasibility study into the bridge claimed.
Sustrans, the sustainable transport charity which is proposing to build the bridge, said in the study that the connection, which would allow more than 10,000 cycle journeys a day, could bring approximately £10m to London’s economy in saved journeys each year.
Only one of London’s 34 bridges is east of Tower Bridge, with the potential Thameside development offering a new route for the area.
The project could take between four and five years to build and could be the first opening bridge built on the Thames since Tower Bridge in 1894.
The study said the proposed bridge could ease increasing congestion, with the estimated 4000 new homes to be built in Canada Water over the next fifteen years as part of a £2 billion development and the 110,000 jobs expected to be created in the Isle of Dogs by 2030.
Sustrans believe the project could be completed by 2020 if backed by London mayoral candidates, with funding for the project, expected to cost £88m, coming from public and private investors.
To date Labour’s Sadiq Khan and Conservative Zac Goldsmith have backed the proposal and have been keen to stress the benefits for commuters and the environment.
A design competition and funding deliberation would still need to take place before the bridge could be built, though the proposal has faced less opposition than the mooted Garden Bridge at Temple station.
TfL has worked closely on the proposal so far and will invite designers and architects to submit plans as the process progresses.
Chris Boardman, British Cycling policy advisor, said: “A new cycling bridge would ease the pressure on transport and make cycling an attractive option for thousands of people in a growing east and south east London.”