Benson Weir reopened to walkers after four year closure

The newly constructed walkway over the weir opened to the public on Wednesday, April 1, nearly four years after it was first shut for safety reasons in November 2022.

A ‘significant project’, the rebuilding of the weir was necessary to due ‘weakening of the overall structure’ worsened by floating objects hitting the ‘deteriorated’ steelwork.

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A spokesperson for the Environment Agency said: “This significant project needed to be delivered over a 2-year period due to its scale and complexity.

Benson Weir reopened to the public on April 1 (Image: Contributed)

“Periods of high flows during the construction work increased the complexity and duration of this project as our contractor used floating pontoons to position all of their cranes and equipment.

“Our contractor has substantially completed the weir replacement works, and the weir walkway re-opened at 9am on 1 April, 2026.”

The ‘new and improved’ walkway over the weir is wider than before, at 1.5m instead of 0.9m, allowing more people to use the Thames Path National Trail route.

The agency said replacement of the weir gates was prioritised first, so that the lock keeper could continue managing the flow of the River Thames during the project.

The new and improved walkway opened on April 1 (Image: Environment Agency)

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Following that, the focus was on a new fish and eel pass, created to improve biodiversity by allowing marine life to pass easily through the weir structure.

Works also improved the weir guarding system to reduce the likelihood of objects hitting the new structure during high river flows and causing damage.

Recycled concrete from the old weir structure was used to give the new weir a longer life, with large concrete ‘boulders’ placed immediately up- and downstream of the structure to reduce the forces that the river itself puts on the weir.