Over half of all of London's bridges are in a 'poor' or 'very poor' condition

London is well-known for its iconic bridges, but most of its crossings are in a terrible condition, it was revealed this week.Over half of all the bridges over The Thames are deteriorating. A total of 16 out of 30 structures are in a “poor” or “very poor” state. Only six bridges are in a “good” condition. Satbir Gill, chairman of the London Technical Advisors Group, shared the findings at a London Assembly meeting on Tuesday, November 3. He had not yet received the ratings from the owners of the remaining eight structures.Underinvestment, extreme weather, including new stressors from long heatwaves, as well as car models getting heavier have brought fresh challenges to maintaining bridges — a lot of which were built in the 1800s.Hammersmith Bridge is only open to cyclists and pedestrians (Photo by Hollie Adams/Getty Images)It was hoped that funding could see the bridge brought back into use. But the council that manages it said the Department of Transport had not yet announced if it would receive the money it asked for.“Without investment being made, the bridge will have to close for safety reasons,” Mark Averill, assistant highways director for Hammersmith & Fulham, said at the meeting. Boat race between Oxford University and Cambridge University pass under Hammersmith Bridge in April 2026(Photo by Harry Murphy/Getty Images)He added: “Without work to replace, bearings, hangars (which hold bridge in place) and all the way they interact with each other, the bridge is slowly getting worse. So it’s not getting any better it can only go one way and get slowly worse.”It cost £1.1 million to do maintenance work on the bridge this year, he said.Averill did not say when exactly the bridge would have to close. It has asked for £128 million from the DfT, and if it receives the money it would need to complete the works by 2030, which is an ambitious target. The council does not have the funds itself, Averill said, plus the works themselves would not guarantee the bridge’s longevity. Since 2021, several of London’s road bridges have been closed or had traffic restrictions put in place because of their deteriorating condition. Albert Bridge was closed to traffic in February after a routine safety inspection(Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)Read MoreAndrew Burton, director of highway services at Kensington and Chelsea council, said: “There have been instances where steel has expanded because of the heat so we’ve put in extra measuring. We did close Albert Bridge once in the summer, because it had expanded it was outside tolerance.”Vauxhall Bridge(Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)This has pushed more traffic onto nearby Chelsea Bridge, an old suspension bridge. “Heavy vehicles cause the most damage” to the structure, Burton told the transport meeting. Richmond Bridge and the world-famous Tower Bridge are also subject to an 18-tonne weight restriction. The full list of crossings in a poor state was not released, but among them were Westminster Bridge near Parliament and Lambeth Bridge.Bridges are owned by a variety of organisations, including local authorities and TfL. TfL said in 2025 that it needed to spend £1.1 to £1.2 billion every year to maintain its bridges in a good state.