Letter: Walnut Bridge – Not So Much A Route to the High Street

Published on: 25 Jul, 2016
Updated on: 25 Jul, 2016

From William Wood

See: ‘Iconic’ New Bridge Approved by Borough Council Executive

Everybody keeps talking about the Walnut Bridge as a link between the railway station and the town centre but from my experience as a regular user, surely its real service to Guildford pedestrians and cyclists is to connect the mainline station with the Woodbridge Road, York Road and Stoke Road areas of Guildford as well as the bus station via the north end of the Friary.

Imagine the added congestion and pedestrian safety issues on the northern pathway of the Bridge Street if it was not there.

That said, the picture of the existing bridge reminds me that it was only opened in 1986, well within my time in Guildford, and should therefore have had a much longer useful lifespan.

Has any consideration been given to “recycling” the main span elsewhere along the river? An excellent means of transporting it out of central Guildford in one piece could be the river itself, given that the Wey is a “navigation”.

Responses to Letter: Walnut Bridge – Not So Much A Route to the High Street

Dave Middleton Reply

July 25, 2016 at 4:43 pm

Perhaps as suggested above, the existing bridge could be recycled and placed across the river at the point where the passageway from Friary Street comes down to the river.

This spot once had a footbridge and would give safe, traffic free access to the bottom of North Street from the west side of the river, without having to cross the road by Debenhams.

In fact, one could walk from the railway station and the Farnham Road multi-storey car park to the bottom of North Street without crossing a single road, by using the pedestrian subways by the station and under Park Street.