John Rowland wrote:

"Aidan Stanger" wrote...

Why is there a 20mph speed limit there?

Good question, there are no pedestrians and no residences.

I'd like to know why Queen Street is blocked, converting Southwark Bridge
into a bridge that there is no reason to use.

There is still much reason to use it, considering how important a road
Upper Thames Street is.

They certainly wouldn't build
a bridge today that isn't the shortest route from anywhere to anywhere [1],

Only because they make the bridges so expensive that nobody can afford
to build them! But the one planned to link the Greenwich Peninsula with
the Royal Docks would be rather less useful than Southwark Bridge now
is.

so why instigate traffic management that turns an existing bridge into a
useless one?

Were there traffic problems at the other end of Queen Street?

[1] Apart from unused bridges built as part of abortive schemes.

And unused half bridges, like the one at Beckton!