Boomerang plan to link Rotherhithe and Canary Wharf

Only yesterday, Brockley Central was idly Tweeting that copying Copenhagen's newest bridge and aerial bike lane would have been a good way to get the Rotherhithe-Canary Wharf foot bridge project back on track. Today, architects ReForm revealed a much better idea - a boomerang bridge, which could be raised for tall ships but which would allow pedestrians and cyclists to cross without having to ascend spiral staircases, as the original design proposed.

As we've said in the past, new river crossings in East London are vital for future growth on both sides of the river. As the Guardian notes, this one would provide a direct connection between "at least 3,300 new homes and places for 2,000 new jobs, [which] are fast rising out of the ground at Canada Water to the south, with 105,000 jobs at Canary Wharf (a figure that’s set to double by 2030)."

At the moment, getting from one side to the other is a difficult business and Rotherhithe remains a strange, beautiful isolated peninsula that's fascinating rather than fun. A bridge would mean life would finally find a way.

The Guardian adds:

"Having parted company with [transport campaigners] Sustrans, the bridge designers are now pressing ahead to launch their scheme and looking for private funds to make it happen. With an estimated construction cost of £88m – half the price of the garden bridge – and some of the world’s richest companies next door (the bridge will land right next to a site planned for JP Morgan’s new HQ), it’s not hard to imagine lycra-clad bankers queuing up to throw their money, and their logos, at the project."