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Warnings about potential risks to motorists on the Sheppey Crossing were rejected or ignored while it was being designed and constructed.
This is according to Richard Denyer, a Kent Police traffic officer when the bridge was being built.
He says he raised safety concerns at the time but was “dismissed and ignored” at every turn.
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In September 2013, 150 vehicles were involved in a pile-up on the bridge in heavy fog.
There were no fatalities but 35 people were taken to hospital, some with serious injuries.
Last July, a mother and her son lost their lives in a crash near the top of the bridge.
Added to this are several incidents where people have been left fearing for their safety after breaking down on the nine-year-old structure.
Mr Denyer says he used to have weekly meetings with the Highways Agency, contractor Carillion and other interested parties where his role was overseeing road safety and traffic flow.
“I had been saying right up until the bridge had virtually been completed that it wasn’t safe, by which time they realised it was going to cost too much money to implement" - Richard Denyer
He raised several concerns including the lack of any refuge for broken-down vehicles, the lack of a place for stranded motorists to stay safe, walk off the bridge or call for help.
He said he also warned that as drivers come over the brow, oncoming vehicles would only be able to see a maximum of 150 metres in which they could react should there be something stationary in the road ahead.
Video: Ex-policeman raises concerns over Sheppey Crossing
This, he said did not take into account the likelihood of other vehicles stuck behind the obstruction.
The 60-year-old, who retired in 2008, said when he asked why there were no plans to put up street lighting, he was told they would affect the migration of a certain species of bird.
Instead, he campaigned “right up until the 11th hour”, for fluorescent strip lighting along the concrete barriers as well as a safe walkway, emergency telephones, matrix warning signs and emergency gates at either approach in the event of a road blockage, but nothing was taken forward.
Mr Denyer says in the month leading up to the opening of the bridge, the Highways Agency admitted to him on two occasions his concerns were valid.
He said: “I had been saying right up until the bridge had virtually been completed that it wasn’t safe, by which time they realised it was going to cost too much money to implement.
“I was so concerned, I actually put a report in to the Chief Constable of Kent Police [Michael Fuller] and he was told [by government] basically to go away and pipe down.
“The bridge was ill-designed from the outset... there were inherent dangers" - Richard Denyer
“The bridge was ill-designed from the outset. Now, whether that was because of the interest of different parties, such as the RSPB and other groups, in terms of appeasement, I don’t know. But the bridge was ill-designed and there were inherent dangers.
“It was a disaster waiting to happen. Nothing we suggested was taken forward.
“The other thing is if you break down on the bridge, where the hell do you walk?”
Mr Denyer served 30 years as a policeman, moving to Swale in 1993 and taking up his role as traffic officer from 2002.
He now instructs people in off-road driving and survival at True Grip Driver Training in Herne Bay.
He said he decided to speak out after hearing MP Gordon Henderson being interviewed about the 150-vehicle crash.
He said: “I suppose I reasoned to myself [previously] you put it down to history and you forget about it.”
Further revelations were made following a Freedom of Information request by Minster Parish Council.
A road safety audit stage two report commissioned by the Highways Agency and carried out by consultants Mott MacDonald in 2005 recommended reviewing geometry of the mainland-bound carriageway because its design could result in, “a higher than expected rate of nose to tail type collisions”.
The agency’s reasons for rejecting the idea included: “Changes of this nature would require additional land within the environmentally sensitive marshes and substantially increase the cost of construction.”
Also, the report suggested installing remotely controlled warning signs to warn users of fog, mist, ice and high winds.
However, the agency said this was rejected in favour of manually operated signs, after consultations with Kent Police and Kent County Council.
Attempts to contact Mr Fuller, now chief inspector of the Crown Prosecution Service, were unsuccessful.
A family member of a mother and child who died on the crossing last year has called for urgent action to be taken to improve its safety.
Deborah Roberts and her eight-year-old son, Marshall, were killed in a crash near the top the bridge on July 1.
Her sister Emma Tweed said: “I won’t stop campaigning until something is done on that bridge because I don’t want another family going through what we are going through.
“If there were safety measures, my sister and nephew could still be here today. It might still have happened but it might not have been so bad” - Deborah Roberts
“Enough is enough. There have been too many accidents and too many breakdowns on that bridge. There is something wrong with it.
“Someone has got to come forward and take responsibilty. They can’t keep brushing it under the carpet.
“If there were safety measures, my sister and nephew could still be here today. It might still have happened but it might not have been so bad.”
When told the Highways Agency cited costs among reasons not for increasing the dimensions of the bridge in order to maximise stopping distance, Emma said: “You can’t put a price on somebody’s life.”
She added: “I’ve got so many views about that bridge. Personally, I would like to see matrix signs, SOS boxes, a speed restriction and speed cameras to enforce it.
“In my eyes, if they are going to implement a reduction in speed, they need to follow it through with intermittent speed cameras or something like that which will make people stick to the limit.”
MP Gordon Henderson has called the Highways Agency’s decision not to implement safety measures in light of warnings, a “scandal”.
Referring to the Stage 2 Road Safety Audit, he said: “These documents make clear the agency was warned about the safety risks presented by the design of the bridge and it is clear also that doing something to introduce the recommended safety measures was rejected on the grounds of cost.
“Frankly, I think it is a scandal also that a government department should ignore the advice of the police and its own road safety audit on such an important issue in order to save money" - MP Gordon Henderson
“Frankly, I think it is a scandal also that a government department should ignore the advice of the police and its own road safety audit on such an important issue in order to save money.
“I think whoever took the decision to put money before safety has a number of serious questions to answer and I want to see the reasons for that decision investigated.”
He added that he has recently met with roads minister John Hayes who has agreed to undertake a review into how the design and construction of the Sheppey Crossing was conducted and also to see what steps are needed to make the bridge safer.
Mr Henderson said: “I am delighted with the minister’s promise because right now I am less interested in recriminations against those who so badly messed up the design and construction of the bridge than I am in seeing put in place as soon as possible some of the safety measures that we have been calling for since the multi-car pile-up in 2013.”
The Highways Agency was asked to repond to Mr Denyer’s recollection of events.
A spokesman said: “Safety is always our top priority, and we remain absolutely committed to keeping journeys safe and reliable.
“The bridge was designed and built in compliance with all relevant design and safety standards, and we keep its safety record continually under review.
“The fog-related incident in September 2013 was fully investigated by the police; the investigation concluded there was nothing to suggest the road infrastructure played a part.
“The bridge was designed and built in compliance with all relevant design and safety standards, and we keep its safety record continually under review" - Highways Agency
“The tragic incident that happened last July is still under investigation by the coroner’s office and the agency is cooperating with it.
“It would be inappropriate at this time to pre-empt any of its conclusions or recommendation.”
The bridge’s safety performance was assessed in a five-year post opening evaluation published in 2012 carried out by the agency.
In assessing the A249 as a whole, it found that although there are no emergency phones, laybys are provided either side of the bridge and the route is partially lit, therefore the impact on security levels was “neutral”.
It also found in its first five years, there was an average of nine fewer accidents in the area (18%) and a 17% reduction in casualties.
The accident rate on the A249 fell by 60% and dipped from above to below the national average.
A Stage 4 Road Safety Audit carried out in the 12 months after opening also found that the accident rate was lower than the predicted average.
“The bridge was designed and built in compliance with all relevant design and safety standards, and we keep its safety record continually under review.
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