Published: 17/01/2023 By Andrew Nunn
Dukes Meadow Footbridge
The project, which has been five years in the planning and construction, has involved the Council, architects Moxon, construction engineers Knights Brown, engineering and construction consultants Currie and Brown and COWI, specialist steelwork fabricators McNealy Brown, Network Rail and the Port of London Authority.
The main span of the new bridge was brought upstream on a barge from Tilbury docks last July. Engineers floated the structure in at high tide and then, as the tide receded, the span settled on its foundations. The bridge is one of the lowest carbon and most environmentally conscious bridges in the UK, according to its designer.
The walkway now means walkers no longer need to take a 500m detour inland to get around the railway bridge to continue a walk along the river and it also provides new access to Dukes Hollow, a small but important nature reserve with a natural tidal foreshore.