Heatherwick's Rolling Bridge in Merchant Square Paddington, London, UK

(Satellite)

The label "bridgeRolling" normally means a Scherzer bridge, but I think this bridge is a valid exception to that rule.

Photo

Kelly Haeber

Grand Union Canal, Paddington, London.

Lorene Lucas Martens

Wilna Combrink

 Found this: Once a week, at around midday on Fridays, two members of staff from Paddington Waterside Partnership bring the controls to operate the bridge. On some days, there are many people standing there to see the bridge opening up and on other days, there is just a handful. The hydraulic system that opens and closes the bridge is fitted into the balustrade. The whole spectacle of the opening and closing is a beautiful thing to watch as it appears very graceful. The operation can be stopped at any point of the curl but it is usually not necessary to do so. The operator stops only when fully open or fully closed. When it is fully open and has spread out across the inlet, people are permitted to walk across. The bridge is extremely stable in spite of its temporary structure. When it has been used for a few minutes and there are no more people left for crossing it, the second member of staff blocks the way as a safety measure and then the bridge is operated to curl back.

Screenshot

One source said it was over the Grand Union Canal. Another source indicated it spanned an inlet of the Grand Union Canal. From what I can see from the video and photos, it is more like a duck pond. It looks very shallow. And they are having trouble keeping the algae off of it.

Didier Roche Tolomelli, Jan 2017

 
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A 3:37 video features this bridge at 1:43.