TfL recently announced that the works to the Ardleigh Green bridge will now be delayed by fifteen months.

It is incredibly frustrating that the works will be subject to yet more delay, with all the congestion and disruption that this entails for local residents and businesses.

Our London Assembly Member, Keith Prince, and I met TfL today for a site visit and asked why this works extension could not have been foreseen, and what guarantees can be provided that the new 2019 deadline will actually be kept to. The Mayor of London needs to make sure that he doesn't forget the importance of the capital's road network to many small businesses, drivers and trades people, and the economic impact on them when these sorts of works fail to get completed in the agreed timescale.

TfL explained that they are hemmed in by the number of Bank Holiday weekends that Network Rail will grant them to carry out the bridge works, and that there was a miscalculation by one of their contractors as to how extensive the works would be and therefore how many of those weekends would be required. 

We expressed our concern that the works might be followed by an extensive period of disruption for works at Gallows Corner and asked if the two projects could be dovetailed in any way. TfL have also offered to make the site more attractive while the works are carried out and they are monitoring traffic flows to see whether temporary traffic orders are required to prevent rat-running in nearby roads.

I have included below the latest closures information they have given me.