The A4 Hammersmith Flyover built in 1961, helps around 90,000 people commute daily in and out of London. It was no surprise that in 2011 when the flyover shut for 5 months to under go emergency repairs due to salt water damage that disruption was caused to tens of thousands of commuters daily lives.

Since then the A4 flyover, further more with the closure of the flyover again during the busy Christmas period of 2012 for emergency repairs again, is often refereed to as an “eye sore”, has been under constant scrutiny.Throughout recent years many possible solutions have been drawn up in an attempt to reduce the noise, pollution as well as fix the physical divide in the community cause by the flyover. But recently the discovery of a disturbing 20 years remaining on the bridges lifespan has promoted a resurgence of ideas which have been flooding into Hammersmith and Fulham Council.

One solution which has quickly gained support from engineers, politicians, and most importantly local residents alike, is the creation of a 2.3 mile “fly-under” or tunnel which would connect Earls Court to the Chiswick roundabout. Put forward by a group of local architects under the name West London Design Link,The fly-under would be constructed with in the 20 years remaining on the Flyover’s life span as well as offer new land to the community which would be used for green spaces, landscaping, and finally the room for development.

One problem West London Design Link will face in implantation of their project is the mouth watering £500 millions it will cost. With idea of the funding coming from Transport for London as the land and flyover is owned by them. With the country in it’s 5th year of economic recession, and with the recent 215 million pounds spent on new buses which have been scrutinized by the public, TfL cannot simply afford the fly-under scheme put forward.

Hammersmith and Fulham Council along with West London Design Link, with cooperation from the local community have come up with a solution. Construction costs of the fly-under will be financed by the sales of the new developments, built on the new space made available from the new tunnel.

With the support from many influential people through out the London community, such as Lord Rogers, M.P. Andy Slaughter,many councils & communities in the area surrounding the proposed location of the tunnel, and finally the mayor of London, Boris Johnson, it looks like that the proposed Hammersmith A4 tunnel is a serious contender in the ever growing pile of solutions for the failing Hammersmith flyover.

Following quotes such as the tunnel being a, “No brainier” from Lord Rogers and, “…the west of London would see it as a huge benefit”

support for the proposed tunnel is ever growing reaching the general public through the press with stories in the Times, Evening Standard, LBC, and on the BBC.

Obviously the 500 million pound cost of the tunnel is restraining the proposed plan from going forward compared to the 1.3 million pounds spent on the flyover originally in 1961, a solution needs to be put in place sooner rather then later in order to prevent any more long term closures, elongated hours of work, and pointless sums of money spent of repairs of the A4 flyover.

At Londonewcastle, we await further developments with interest. The re-establishment of Hammersmith with a proper town centre that links it to the River will no doubt boost the attractiveness of the area and increase land values. Who knows - we could even see Hammersmith as the new Notting Hill? Stranger things have happened…

And we will be right there, playing our part in regenerating the area - with significant experience in developing complex brownfield sites - including the multi-award winning Arundel Square in Islington - where an engineered deck was installed above existing mainline rail lines to green light the development and significant improvements to an under-utilised public garden square.