London Bridge Traffic
Annual traffic volumes on every Thames road bridge from Hampton Court to Tower Bridge, before and after Hammersmith Bridge closed to motor traffic in April 2019. Three views below: the combined Screenline + DfT picture, the raw TfL Thames Screenline counts, and the DfT AADF approach-road estimates.
Why three views?
TfL Thames Screenline is a single-day manual count of vehicles crossing each bridge, done in even years since 1986. DfT AADF is an annual average daily flow estimated for a count point on each bridge approach, with year-by-year coverage from 2000. Combining them fills the gap years; comparing them separately validates the trend in either source.
Common questions
- Did Hammersmith Bridge's 2019 closure displace traffic onto neighbouring bridges?
- No. Both DfT AADF and the TfL Thames Screenline show traffic also fell on Putney, Chiswick, Kew, and Wandsworth bridges over the same period. The closure did not push significant motor traffic onto neighbouring crossings.
- What's the difference between the DfT Count and the TfL Count?
- DfT is the Annual Average Daily Flow estimated for one count point on each bridge approach. TfL is a single-day manual count of vehicles crossing the bridge itself, done in even years. Values are not directly comparable; the screenline is typically 2 to 2.5 times the DfT AADF for the same bridge.
- What does an "estimated" DfT year mean compared to a "counted" year?
- DfT physically counts each count point every six years and statistically estimates the in-between years from related count points. Counted years are more reliable; the dashboard preserves the estimation_method field on every data point.
- Why does this dashboard exist?
- Politicians have repeatedly claimed the Hammersmith closure displaced traffic onto neighbouring bridges. The official data show the opposite. The dashboard is the evidence, source-linked to DfT and TfL.