Hammersmith Flyover – What is the problem?

Just before Christmas 2011, Hammersmith Flyover was closed with almost no notice, causing immediate traffic chaos and continuing disruption. Emergency repairs have been made to enable the bridge to reopen in time for the Olympics but a longer term solution is required. The problems are associated with corrosion of the prestressing tendons, which mainly lie outside the concrete but which have corrosion protection that is incomplete, but which masks access to the corrosion, the full extent of which is thus hidden. The talk will consider the flyover’s history, the necessity for the emergency closure and what strategies might be adopted for the future.