West India Quay Footbridge

One more look at the West India Quay Footbridge. It's hard to imagine this area when it was mostly ships and warehouses for the distribution of sugar and rum from the West Indies (a chain of Caribbean Islands that includes earthquake-ravaged Haiti). Columbus thought he had found a new route to Southeast Asia and so they called the region the West Indies after they realized his mistake.

The Happy Pontist correctly stated that the bridge pontoons are anchored to the channel bottom. This area is affected by tidal currents so the anchorage must keep the bridge from lifting off the quays during high tide.  He also correctly named this bridge. I was reluctant to give the proper name because I didn't know if I would be able to continue to do so for all the bridges around Canary Wharf.

West India Quay Footbridge by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Canary Wharf Bridge (1)

A few months ago, we looked at bridges that cross the Thames River west of London. It's an idyllic area with pretty towns that have a rural feel.

The east side of London north of the Thames used to be filled with busy ports that are now closed. A lot of money went into converting this area into a financial center to rival London, but with mixed results due to the volatile economy during the past 20 years.

This area (called Canary Wharf) has a lot of pretty footbridges to carry people across the channels where ships loaded with goods used to travel. I think the developers must have encouraged the bridge engineers to be innovative in the design of these little bridges.

For instance, this pontoon bridge looks like it can be taken apart and reassembled wherever it might be needed. Each module is composed of two air-filled barrels with X-braced four-legged piers supporting a tubular superstructure and a rubber deck. The ends of the bridge are supported by the quay walls on each side of the channel. More information on this bridge can be obtained from the website that the designers (Anthony Hunt and Future Systems) created.

Canary Wharf is in the middle of the big downward bend in the Thames River shown in the Google Earth Photo above. We will look at some of the other bridges in this area over the next few days.

Canary Wharf Bridge (1) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Puente a Machu Picchu (2)

Another view of the suspension bridge we studied yesterday. I was wondering if the longitudinal planks on the deck were made to carry vehicles or just to hold the deck to the floor beams. I'm not even sure if a vehicle could get through the legs of the towers (or if the bridge could support vehicles).

Lately I've been noticing the difference between the rather humble bridges in my blog and the more elegant structures presented by The Happy Pontist.

I think if we were novelists, he would be Thomas Mann whose elegant prose examined the world of educated people and their ideas. I would be more like John Steinbeck who discussed the ordinary people he met in his travels. The Tall Bridge Guy would represent the American idealism of Jack Kerouac and The Bridge Hunter would be a populist writer like Mark Twain.

Puente a Machu Picchu (2) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Puente a Machu Picchu

Another interesting pedestrian bridge across the Urubamba River on the way to the ruins of Machu Picchu. A pair of short reinforced concrete towers supports steel suspension cables that are anchored at the far sides of the bridge. Steel clamps are attached to the suspension cables and support suspender cables, floor beams, and the timber deck.

This bridge is similar to the inexpensive suspension bridges we saw by Walter Yanez in Ecuador. Perhaps its most interesting feature is the elaborate design of the fabric on the guard rails along the sides of the deck. The pattern appears to be an authentic design of the indigenous Peruvian culture.

The most distinguishing aspect of this area, which may not be obvious from these photos, is how steep and how green the mountain peaks are in this region. I've hiked extensively through the Sierras in California, but I don't recall ever seeing so many steep peaks crowded together as surround Machu Picchu.

Puente a Machu Picchu by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Puente Aguas Calientes (3)

A last look at Puente Aguas Calientes with Anshel looking back from the bridge deck. This two-span pedestrian bridge couldn't be more different from the austere Incan structures in Cusco and at Machu Picchu.  Those structures are incredibly precise, I don't think I've ever seen stonework that fit together so well. The irrigation structures still function perfectly after hundreds of years of use.

This bridge on the other hand seems individual, personal, and arbitrary in its strange, arch-like bends, varying depth, and delightfully expressive handrail. It's as if the town of Aguas Caliente celebrates the somewhat sterile architecture of the Incas with more modest and personal architectural vision.

These more eclectic structures suggests that today a gentler society exists with greater individual freedoms than existed in the past.

Puente Aguas Calientes (3) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.