Paddington Bridge project

RogerS · 23 Jan 2006

I've been watching this project with interest...being a Westminster Council tax payer and so funder of the project notwithstanding.

The major challenge was to minimise disruption to the railway into/out of Paddington Station and this was achieved by flying the bridge over the tracks...with collossal cables and 1500 ton concrete anchor.

This picture shows the new bridge being launched out over the railway tracks (the trains still ran underneath!) and at the extreme left you can see the original bowstring road bridge that was hoisted up on four towers so that the new bridge could fly underneath it before being lowered onto its supports at the left of picture.

The bridge animation gives a good overview of what they have done. I regularly walked underneath the new canal bridge and was used to seeing it about 30 feet in the air. They then lowered the huge thing by about 20 feet to finally sit on its supports.

http://www.paddingtonbridge.com

These are some of the better pictures that give an impression of the scale of the thing.

http://www.paddingtonbridge.com/view/archive/july 2005/index.html

http://www.paddingtonbridge.com/view/archive/september 2005/index.html

Hope you find it as interesting as I have done

devonwoody · 24 Jan 2006

Interesting subject Roger. I reckon its most probably 50 years since I last used the original bridge.

RogerS · 24 Jan 2006

They even found one of Brunels original bridges buried inside the old canal bridge!

RogerS · 30 Jan 2006

When I posted this I had been impressed by the ingenuity of the engineers. Then I saw the recent program 'Megastructures' on the Millau bridge across the River Tarn in France.

They too launched their bridge..only this time from both sides of the valley, at staggering heights 300+metres above ground and over several kilometres of 'launch'. When the two halves met they were within 10mm.

I'm impressed and humbled in equal measure.