Can the city do more to stop dangerous climbs atop the new Victoria Bridge?

A reckless and irresponsible stunt is raising questions about the safety of London’s brand new $22 million bridge over the Thames River.

A brief video that has already been widely circulated on social media shows two people standing on top of the bridge’s west arch on Ridout Street - dangerously high above the river.

According to designs on the City of London website, the peak of each arch is 10 metres above the road surface, and 15.5 metres higher than where they connect to the abutment.

Director of Transportation and Mobility Doug MacRae, said that the risk that people might climb on the arches was considered during the design process, “Features were incorporated into the Victoria Bridge design to try to minimize the potential for this kind of behavior.”

Victoria Bridge on Ridout Street (Daryl Newcombe/CTV News London)

A large piece of steel mesh suspended below the deck of the bridge is intended to block people from climbing the arches from their base.

However, some red graffiti on an adjacent pipe suggests people have figured out a way to bypass the safety barrier.

A black chain link fence was also installed around the south end of the bridge to discourage people from gaining access to the arches—but on Thursday CTV News discovered that the gate was not locked.

“The fence is part of the overall package here to separate the users of the park from the bottom of the bridge on the south side,” explained MacRae. “It's brand-new infrastructure so we need to sort out that detail.”

The $22 million bridge opened on July 4.

The ‘through arch’ design was chosen by city council in 2018 instead of a simpler and less expansive span.

London Police told CTV News they do not have information about the identities of the individuals filmed on top of the arch, and that every situation is handled in a case-by-case basis depending on the circumstances.

After watching the video, Old South resident Joe Nolan said, “I think it's high-risk behaviour. And you're going to have high risk behavior no matter what safeguards you put in.”

“I didn't think that was going to happen, but young people will be young people,” added Herb Diestler after walking across the bridge.