TARGET 110511

The Paddington Curling Bridge

Curled up

All curled up

For centuries, there has been a problem of how to get people across a waterway while also allowing boats to go along it. A lot of ingenious solutions have been invented: drawbridges that fold upward in the middle, some that raise in the middle, some that have mid-sections that will pivot to create openings where ships can pass through.

But one of the oddest looking is a bridge completed in 2004 as part of the Grand Union Canal Office & Retail Development Project at Paddington Basin, in London.

The bridge only needs to carry foot-traffic between the office buildings, and any "ships" which pass through are tiny private boats, and space for the bridge is very limited between the office building complexes. So there was really no need for a large construction. A simple raised bridge, where people would climb tall stairs on one side and descend stairs on the other would do, but the people here are business people, hurrying commerce from one building to another. A raised bridge with steep stairs just wouldn't do. The solution, then, was a bridge that would just curl up out of the way of any passing boat, and then curl back down for the foot traffic.

The principle involved

The principle involved

The realization of the principle

The realization of the principle

The bridge master (in the yellow vest) stands at ready all day, curling the bridge up when boat traffic needs to pass, and then uncurling it when people need to cross.




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