London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 01, 2025

Britain’s bridges are falling down: why is the UK so terrible at infrastructure?

Britain’s bridges are falling down: why is the UK so terrible at infrastructure?

Simple and cowardly short-termism is a major reason for the UK’s dismal performance.
One of the most exciting things that happened to me when I was a baby train nerd was the arrival at my local station of leaflets about Crossrail. This, a helpful map informed me, would be a sort of super-Tube line, by which suburban trains would continue past Liverpool Street, to Oxford Street, Paddington and points west.

I understood, I suppose, that this wasn’t going to happen overnight. But I would still have been stunned to learn that, by the early Nineties, such a scheme had already been discussed on and off for around half a century; that it wouldn't receive government approval for another 15 years; and that, a decade after that, roughly a month after I selected a flat based in part on its proximity to one of the new Crossrail stations, its opening would be delayed from “next December” to “some time, possibly?” At the time of writing, the line has yet to open, but word is that it should do so in the first half of 2022. We shall see.

That the UK government is not very good at infrastructure should come as no surprise to anyone who has been to, say, France. But the result of an investigation published in Thursday's Times might still come as a shock.

Figures obtained from Highways England, the government-owned company in charge of motorways and trunk roads, showed that, out of around 9,000 bridges and large culverts (basically, huge pipes for rivers) in the network, around 4,000 “showed evidence of defects or damage that may significantly affect their capacity”. As of April 2019, 858 had at least one “load-bearing or otherwise crucial” section in “very poor condition”. Given everything that has happened in the last 20 months, it is probably safe to assume that matters have not improved since.

The 2018 Genoa disaster, in which a road bridge collapsed in northern Italy, killing 43, is a reminder of how bad the consequences of failing to maintain a road bridge can be. Thankfully, there's little suggestion of anything that dangerous here (most of these bridges will be much, much smaller). But Highways England has warned that reducing capacity – closing lanes, banning heavy goods vehicles – may be necessary to prevent further damage. It’s not merely that the UK is bad at improving its transport infrastructure. It’s so bad at maintaining it that things are getting worse.

The agency, incidentally, attempted to block the freedom of information request that uncovered these figures, on the grounds that they could be useful to terrorists – and not, say, that they showed it to be extremely bad at its job.

This is merely the tip of an extremely large iceberg. East of Docklands, it remains ludicrously difficult to cross the Thames, despite decades of unbuilt proposals. Until January, Leeds-Bradford was the largest metropolitan area in the EU without any form of metro whatsoever; the only reason that changed is that Britain is no longer in the EU. Birmingham makes do with a single, paltry tram line and traffic as far as the eye can see, and one of the strongest arguments for building HS2 is that, if we scrap it and try to come up with something better, it’ll delay the capacity improvements we need by another 20 years or more.

Why is the UK so bad at this? One reason may be that the problem is self-perpetuating: if, instead of building scheme A and then scheme B, you wait a decade and then try to build both at once, you'll find that both are now a lot more expensive than predicted because they rely on the same pool of labour, plant and expertise. Another may be that our national love of house price inflation has fuelled both higher land prices and government nimbyism: investing in new transport infrastructure will cost a fortune, wind a lot of voters up, and probably won’t open until the government after next. Why bother?

But I can’t help but feel that a big part of the problem is simple and cowardly short-termism. It’s easier to cut capital than current spending: changes to the latter will be felt immediately, while those to the former may take years to show. Once enough years have passed, though, you wake up to find that half your bridges and culverts are falling to bits.

Rishi Sunak is not a complete coward. Despite having a public reputation built entirely on handing out money, he’s talking up austerity with the zeal of a man who has not stopped to consider the consequences this might have for his leadership ambitions. And despite such talk, last month’s Spending Review did promise an increase in infrastructure spending, as well as a new national infrastructure bank to be based in the north of England.

One question is whether this is even close to enough to make up for decades of neglect. Another is whether it will be sustainable, if the Chancellor continues to insist that we should all be terribly worried about the national debt – even though it is possible at present for the government to take out long-term loans that are all but interest-free.

So perhaps I’m over-complicating things. Perhaps the reason the UK has such bad infrastructure is much simpler. Perhaps it’s because of the Tories.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Finalizes Broad Tariff Increases on Global Trade Partners
J.K. Rowling Limits Public Engagements Citing Safety Fears
JD.com Launches €2.2 Billion Bid for German Electronics Retailer Ceconomy
Azerbaijan Proceeds with Plan to Legalise Casinos on Artificial Islands
Former Judge Charged After Drunk Driving Crash Kills Comedian in Brazil
Jeff Bezos hasn’t paid a dollar in taxes for decades. He makes billions and pays $0 in taxes, LEGALLY
China Increases Use of Exit Bans Amid Rising U.S. Tensions
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Procter & Gamble to Raise U.S. Prices to Offset One‑Billion‑Dollar Tariff Cost
House Republicans Move to Defund OECD Over Global Tax Dispute
Botswana Seeks Controlling Stake in De Beers as Anglo American Prepares Exit
Trump Administration Proposes Repeal of Obama‑Era Endangerment Finding, Dismantling Regulatory Basis for CO₂ Emissions Limits
France Opens Criminal Investigation into X Over Algorithm Manipulation Allegations
A family has been arrested in the UK for displaying the British flag
Mel Gibson refuses to work with Robert De Niro, saying, "Keep that woke clown away from me."
Trump Steamrolls EU in Landmark Trade Win: US–EU Trade Deal Imposes 15% Tariff on European Imports
ChatGPT CEO Sam Altman says people share personal info with ChatGPT but don’t know chats can be used as court evidence in legal cases.
The British propaganda channel BBC News lies again.
Deputy attorney general's second day of meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell has concluded
Controversial March in Switzerland Features Men Dressed in Nazi Uniforms
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
Thai Civilian Death Toll Rises to 12 in Cambodian Cross-Border Attacks
TSUNAMI: Trump Just Crossed the Rubicon—And There’s No Turning Back
Over 120 Criminal Cases Dismissed in Boston Amid Public Defender Shortage
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
Trump Announces $550 Billion Japanese Investment and New Trade Agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
×