On 29 Mar, 16:31, Abigail Brady wrote:

On Mar 29, 10:32 am, Mizter T wrote:

And the bridge has already been moved into place over the road! I can
see orange jacketed bods walking over it right now. Good work. A new
mini London landmark is born.

Here are some camera-phone photos I took at lunchtime :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/6387911...57604300907267

(they are cc-by-sa)


Shoreditch High Street was reopen to traffic by 9pm-ish last night,
and I went under the new bridge. So it looks like work was completed
ahead of schedule - the relevant ELLX page [1] states that closures
will be in operation until 5am on monday morning, unless the road has
been closed again today for some extra work to be performed on the
bridge, though I can't quite see why that might happen - but as the
webcam has gone down and I'm not physically there I can say for sure
either way.

Though Radio 5 were still reporting that Shoreditch High Street was
closed ("due to roadworks"!) at the time - though there was still
congestion as Bishopsgate (and Norton Foregate) were closed southbound
for separate works.

It looks like TfL have sensibly embraced the 'under promise, over
deliver' maxim here - I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that the
ELLX does in fact open for business at the timetable change in
December '09, which I am led to believe is the date that is pencilled
in on the 'optimistic construction timetable' (as it were).

The bridge itself is impressive - it's big, and of a simple,
straightforward but eye pleasing design. Whilst I didn't see a double
decker going under it's quite clear that there's plenty of clearance
for high vehicles.

Whilst it comes as no surprise it must nonetheless be a bit odd for
locals to find this new dominating structure in place, especially as
there's never been a bridge there before. I think what it might have
been like when the line went in over Ludgate Hill between Blackfriars
(though was it not named St Paul's at the time) and Holborn Viaduct -
though that bridge did spoil a great view of St Paul's, which was
reinstated when the bridge was removed and the Thameslink line was
diverted under the road into City Thameslink station (which
confusingly on opening was also named St Paul's - well, St Paul's
Thameslink, to be precise).

The new bridge at Shoreditch doesn't obscure any classic view of this
sort, though I guess it does somewhat obstruct one's view of the
gleaming towers of the City from points north. I do hope that someone
made a decent photographic record of what it was like before the
bridge went up for the sake of posterity.

P.S. Abi - what does "they are cc-by-sa" mean?!

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[1] http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/proj...lway/2119.aspx