New Thames crossing options reviewed

A while back, with some help from the Greens, Boris killed the Thames Gateway Bridge - the only fully-developed and costed idea on the table for solving the chronic lack of options for crossing the Thames in the east of London.

But it turns out that we do need a river crossing after all - except now we've had to go back to the drawing board and review a list of options, all of which seem considerably worse than the Gateway Bridge option and would take many more years to see the light of day.

Greenwich.co.uk has a very good summary of the TfL discussion document that sets out the main contenders. The noises coming from the Mayor suggest that he's keenest on the idea of a crossing between the Dome and Silvertown. 853blog has an excellent analysis of why this is a very bad idea - not least because it doesn't create any new crossing points from the south side, funneling traffic via the A102. It's also a more car-centric option than the Gateway Bridge was, which should please the Greens no-end.