The Mayor’s bridging legacy begins with him stopping the works order on the Thames Tideway bridge as one of the first acts he did when becoming Mayor in May 2008. And ends with him now pushing through the controversial Garden Bridge before his departure, fast racked when we have 12 other River crossing proposals which TfL are working on. Eight of which are for pedestrian & cyclists and the remaining 4 for road traffic crossings. 

The irony with the Thames bridge from Thamesmead to Beckton ( Gallions Reach ), – something that he has come round too see that London needs – would have been built and finished by now, but for him chopping it at the outset of his term.  Of course planning Inspectorate decision would have needed to be overturned but that would not have been insurmountable for the Mayor keen on the proposal.

Now Boris Johnson, ends his time as Mayor of London with the folly of the Garden Bridge. Given that TfL are working on as many as 12 river crossing proposals as illustrated with diagram above, he must explain why and how he fast tracked it ahead of the other proposals? Particularly ahead of those that open up new homes in opportunity areas near the new crossings like those proposed by Terry Farrell in East London like the Lower Thames Crossing & at Belvedere. If there is not an adequate explanation then Joanna Lumley really has pulled the wool over the Mayor’s and TfL eyes!