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Movable bridges

Placing the new rotating deck of the Fontenoy swing bridge marks the completion of this structure in January 2008

like a guard of honour for the future tourists

Recreational navigation on Europe’s rivers and canals is an adventure marked by countless events which – in the phrase coined by Peter White* - “are a delight to the eye and refresh the spirit”. The waterway’s structures are themselves key actors in these events, and no doubt one of the leading roles is played by lift-bridges. Van Gogh – after so many other artists – was sensitive to their aesthetic appeal in his own way: there is something incomparably graceful in the movements of the bridge decks which rise, swing or slide to let boats pass through. The future navigators on the Deûle-Scheldt link will thus encounter no less than 12 movable bridges on the route. The drawback of having to comply with restricted opening times will be more than compensated by the curiosity in seeing these structures work, opening like a guard of honour to greet the new tourists in an area which attracted very few during the industrial era. The local population will also appreciate seeing these movable bridges work again, symbolising the regeneration of the corridor. This edition of the Newsletter examines these emblematic structures, whose rehabilitation proved to be complex under many headings.

Article

* formerly principal architect of British Waterways