Boat Bridge, Canary Wharf, London, UK

A multi-storey building with several levels of basement required the creation of temporary roads and bridges within and around the East India Docks of London during construction. The temporary bridge presented in this paper is a simply supported beam deck structure spanning up to 19 m comprised of a two lane carriageway and pedestrian access route taking more than a full highway loading. The bridge is moved, clearing the waterway, by being lifted off its bearings, transferring the 60 t dead weight of the bridge to pontoons, “sailing” it out of the channel, mooring it until the boat passes through the channel and then reversing the process. The paper discusses the design of the deck structure, abutments, bearings, and floatation system.