Richard Rogers has now lent the support of his practice Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners to the idea of tunnelling the A4 under Hammersmith.
Lord Rogers, whose practice is on the Hammersmith riverbank, is the latest Hammersmith based architect to back the scheme.
Mike Davies, senior partner at Rogers Stirk Harbour said: “The removal of the space-gobbling, light-blocking, community-dividing flyover would offer opportunities for new public space in the form of light and air and with hugely reduced pollution.”
The plans now being firmly backed by the council would involve a tunnel from the Hogarth roundabout in Chiswick to the Earl’s Court end of the current flyover.
The council say burying the A4 would restore links between Hammersmith and Chiswick town centres and the Thames and that this could be achieved without disruption to the highway network. They also believe that construction costs could be financed by the land that would be released for development.
The council has promised to commission a study to ascertain the benefits and challenges related to various options.
Cllr Nicholas Botterill, H&F Council Leader, said: “H&F is uniting behind the flyunder idea as it would dramatically improve the quality of life for thousands of west Londoners and be a game changer for Hammersmith town centre. The hard work now needs to begin with TfL to explore further the various options.”
Garrett Emmerson, Chief Operating Officer for Surface Transport at TfL said: “We understand that H&F Council is keen to look at proposals to replace the Hammersmith flyover in more detail. We have discussed this with the borough recently and offered support to them in putting their case together for this project. Any plan to replace the flyover would need to be fully assessed, justified and funded through the wider redevelopment of the area.”
