The Hammersmith Flyover in west London could be demolished and replaced with a tunnel.
The six-decade-old concrete bridge could be knocked down under proposals from Hammersmith and Fulham council.
Under the Labour-led council’s draft Local Plan, the flyover may be replaced with a “flyunder”, referring to a tunnel to carry the four-lane A4 Great West Road.
Councillors are expected to vote on whether to accept the plans on Monday, with the draft proposal claiming the demolition would release land for development while improving the town centre’s noise and pollution levels.
Papers scheduled to be presented to them say that demolishing the flyover “has the support of local people, the Mayor of London and TfL [Transport for London]”.
The vote on whether to build the tunnel comes despite the council spending millions on a refurbishment project, which TfL said would make the bridge “safe to use for decades to come”.
The flyover, which was opened in 1961, was intended to reduce traffic levels in Hammersmith.
However, the draft plan noted that it “had adverse consequences, cutting off Hammersmith Town Centre from the River Thames, severing the traditional Victorian street pattern and creating large amounts of traffic”.
The ageing bridge has required increasing amounts of money to keep it in a safe and usable state, with around £100m being spent on it in a project that finished 10 years ago.
Engineers had discovered that salty water from anti-icing treatment on the road surface had seeped through leaky waterproofing, reaching the steel beams inside the bridge that hold it together.
Those had to be stripped out and replaced, with the two-year project finishing in 2015.
The council’s draft plan says developers hoping to win the contract to demolish the flyover and build the tunnel should also be prepared to develop the site as well.
This should include “mixed-use redevelopment”, including housing “for local people across a range of tenures and affordability” as well as new hotels, shops, “cultural and leisure facilities” and “supporting infrastructure”.
The council also hopes to “return the Hammersmith gyratory to two-way working and improve the capacity of Hammersmith bus station”.
“Redevelopment of the site should explore ways to improve pedestrian connectivity between the District and Piccadilly line station, and Circle and Hammersmith & City line station,” the document says.
The council hopes its 15-year plan will be ready for adoption in November 2027.