This iconic London road is being demolished

It’s good news for the people of Hammersmith and bad news for people that inexplicably love motorways running through cities, because Hammersmith and Fulham Council has revealed it wants to demolish the A4 flyover – the ugly 1960s viaduct that passes in front of Hammersmith tube station.

Quite the eyesore, the Hammersmith flyover was originally built in 1961 to reduce traffic. The council has now said it wants to work with TfL and ‘other stakeholders’ to knock it down and replace it with a tunnel. 

According to the council’s draft plans, the removal of the Hammersmith Flyover and parts of the A4 would free up land for development and reconnect communities separated by the road. It would also improve life in the area by reducing noise and pollution.

The council wrote that in its 60 years of life the flyover has ‘had adverse consequences, cutting off Hammersmith Town Centre from the River Thames, severing the traditional Victorian street pattern and creating large amounts of traffic moving around the Hammersmith Gyratory to get on and off the A4’. 

The plan to demolish the flyover is part of the council’s bigger Local Plan which outlined a strategy that will play out over a number of years in the borough. It is hoped the plan will be ready to begin in November 2027, to run for 15 years until 2042. 

A public consultation into the plans will begin in due course. 

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