Geometry with steel
Three stylish bridges
Engineers have been showing off their ingenuity to help walkers explore the newly developed area of Paddington basin.
The rolling bridge coils up at least once a week. It is cunningly shaped and jointed to roll up so that boats can get into an inlet. When coiled the bridge takes the shape of an octagon on its side.
Not far away, close to Westway with its stream of noisy traffic, there is canal crossing with spiral ramps. This gives easy access to the basin from the Harrow road,
At the end of the basin there is another bridge that moves to allow boats to pass. This one is a helical bridge that moves on a steel corkscrew.
Submitted by: Andrew Hunt, 21 January 2007
