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Permalink Reply by Michael Dawson on December 1, 2016 at 9:00

Maybe the head of TfL could come to a grand bridge re-opening, with full media publicity, making a speech in which the reasons for the interminable delays are all fully explained and the cost to TfL is clearly set out.  Maybe he could also explain how a city in Japan managed to repair massive damage to a busy city centre road junction created by a collapsing sump hole in just one week, as shown on ITN news recently, but the Wilmer Way footbridge repair has taken two and a half years.  Maybe pigs will fly! 

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Permalink Reply by Louca-Mai Brady on December 1, 2016 at 10:34

It does indeed show spectacular incompetence, for which nobody seems to take full responsibility. The state of the area around the bridge at Ollerton Road end is also pretty poor, there is litter everywhere and signs that someone is sleeping under the bridge at night. Given that contractors are working there every day I just hope they are going to clean it up at the end, as leaving it in such a state of neglect is likely to attract more dumping and antisocial behaviour.

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Permalink Reply by Donald Smith on December 2, 2016 at 13:33

Despite the public highway being the responsibility of Transport for London, legal responsibility for clearing  any littering is the responsibility of London Borough of Enfield.

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Permalink Reply by Geoffrey Kemball-Cook on December 20, 2016 at 19:50

In September I confidently predicted that these repairs would not be carried out by the end of 2016. It gives me little pleasue to report that the supports for the footbridge are still swathed in plastic and scaffolding. I actually think that no-one knows how to repair the bridge.

However Merry Xmas everyone (apart from the incompetents at every stage of this sorry saga).

Geoff

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Permalink Reply by Matthew Kitching on December 20, 2016 at 20:19

Merry Xmas Geoff and all (excepting TfL in this instance). What a mess and what a sorry saga!

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Permalink Reply by Geoffrey Kemball-Cook on April 1, 2017 at 12:03

Dear Hutch

Well by my reckoning that's exactly THREE YEARS give or take a day or two, That must make the job eligible for some kind of award. I wonder if anyone, anywhere from the commissioners to the designers to the construction engineers to TfL and anyone else has suffered in the slightest as a result of this gigantic cockup. Anyone been censured, demoted, sacked? I rather doubt it. Indeed, has anyone been honest enough to put their hand up and say "Sorry, it was me/us"? I suspect not - all hiding behind corporate anonymity. In what I hope is the end of this sorry saga, it is the complete absence of any acknowledgment of responsibility which is so corrosive.

Geoff

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Permalink Reply by Michael Dawson on April 1, 2017 at 13:01

Yes, this sounds all too credible.  You can just see the "commercial confidentiality" excuse being trotted out, as the "matter of national security" one clearly won't wash.  Someone at TfL really should write an account of what happened in this case, whether anyone has faced any sanction or penalty and what lessons have been learnt.  But I won't hold my breath.

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Permalink Reply by Louca-Mai Brady on April 3, 2017 at 11:08

Thanks all and yes it has been almost exactly three years, which is frankly inexcusable. It didn't help that a lot of the first year was wasted in arguments about who was responsible, meaning that what should have been a relatively straightforward replacement of a bolt became something much bigger. And then the ridiculous litany of excuses since then from TfL has made matters even worse. I just really hope that this isn't symptomatic of wider organisational incompetence at TfL - but again not holding my breath!

At least now all the children who cross that road everyday can now finally do so safely - just a shame it took three years!

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