Tag Archives: Westminster Bridge

Bridge Madness 2026 – Elite Eight

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Rules

In the 2026 Bridge Madness Tournament, 16 bridges that cross the Thames River in London go pier-to-pier in a reader’s choice tournament to pick the best one. This year’s tournament features bridges visited by urbantraipsing on a 2012 bridge-walking expedition.

Results of the Sweet Sixteen:

  • Battersea Railway Bridge vs. Tower Bridge – 24% to 76%
  • Battersea Bridge vs. London Bridge – 43% to 57%
  • Albert Bridge vs. Cannon Street Bridge – 100% to 0%
  • Chelsea Bridge vs. Southwark Bridge – 67% to 33%
  • Grosvenor Bridge vs. Millennium Bridge – 38% to 62%
  • Vauxhall Bridge vs. Blackfriars Bridge – 33% to 67%
  • Lambeth Bridge vs. Waterloo Bridge – 92% to 8%
  • Westminster Bridge vs. Jubilee Bridges – 58% to 42%

Below are the brackets for the Elite Eight. Remember to vote for one bridge in each bracket by noon on Saturday, March 14th, and then return on March 15th to vote for the Final Four.

To learn more about the bridges, revisit the introduction which has links to posts on each bridge.

The Bridge Brackets

Tower Bridge
London Bridge
Albert Bridge
Chelsea Bridge
Millennium Bridge
Blackfriars Bridge
Lambeth Bridge
Westminster Bridge

Bridge Madness 2026 Map

Bridge Madness 2026 – Sweet Sixteen

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Rules

In the 2026 Bridge Madness Tournament, 16 bridges that cross the Thames River in London go pier-to-pier in a reader’s choice tournament to pick the best one. This year’s tournament features bridges visited by urbantraipsing on a 2012 bridge-walking expedition. Below are the brackets for the Sweet Sixteen. Remember to vote for one bridge in each bracket by noon on Saturday, March 7th, and then return on March 8th to vote for the Elite Eight.

To learn more about the bridges, revisit the introduction which has links to posts on each bridge.

The Bridges

Battersea Railroad Bridge
Tower Bridge
Battersea Bridge
London Bridge
Albert Bridge
Cannon Street Railway Bridge
Chelsea Bridge
Southwark Bridge
Grosvenor Bridge
Millennium Bridge
Vauxhall Bridge
Blackfriars Bridge
Lambeth Bridge
Waterloo Bridge
Westminster Bridge
Jubilee Bridges

Bridge Madness 2026 Map

Bridge Madness 2026 – Introduction

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Rules

In the 2026 Bridge Madness Tournament, 16 London bridges go pier-to-pier in a reader’s choice tournament to pick the best one. I engaged with approximately 18 bridges across the River Thames on my last trip to London. Because the Blackfriars Station Railway Bridge was under construction when I was there, it is not included in this tournament. The Jubilee-Hungerford Bridges are either 1 or 3 bridges depending on how you count them. For the purposes of this tournament, we are counting them as 1 bridge to stay with our usual 16 tournament bridges.

Beginning March 1, you will be able to vote for your favorite bridge in each bracket. The champion bridge will be announced on March 29. Don’t forget to come back each week to vote your favorite bridge to #1!

Each round of voting will go live at 8 AM on the scheduled Sunday and close at noon the following Saturday. The schedule is:

  • March 1 – Sweet Sixteen
  • March 8 – Elite Eight
  • March 15 – Final Four
  • March 22 – Championship
  • March 29 – Winner announced

The 16 London Bridges in this tournament are listed below. Click on the links to learn more about urbantraipsing’s encounter with each bridge.

  • Albert Bridge
  • Battersea Bridge
  • Battersea Railroad Bridge
  • Blackfriars Bridge
  • Cannon Street Railway Bridge
  • Chelsea Bridge
  • Grosvenor Bridge
  • Jubilee Bridges
  • Lambeth Bridge
  • London Bridge
  • Millennium Bridge
  • Southwark Bridge
  • Tower Bridge
  • Vauxhall Bridge
  • Waterloo Bridge
  • Westminster Bridge

Bridge Madness 2026 Map

Westminster Bridge

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I mentioned in my post on Battersea Bridge that the traffic on the bridge was low, but that this was probably in part due to the fact that I crossed it on Sunday afternoon.  I was so excited about walking all the bridges in London that I walked half of them first thing that Sunday afternoon when I arrived.  The traffic condition on most of the bridges was similar to the Battersea Bridge–not much.  I did pass several other pedestrians as I walked along the Thames River Path to get between the bridges, but the volume of the pedestrian traffic changed significantly when I reached Westminster Bridge.  Crowds of people were crossing the Westminster Bridge, enough that an ice cream truck parked at one end to attract customers from the passersby.

      

Going back to the mysterious tower under construction next to the St Georges Wharf Apartments (see Lambeth Bridge post and Battersea Bridge post), my favorite view of these buildings was from the Westminster Bridge.  The way they appear in a cluster with other buildings along the river soothes my sense of harmony, as the tower doesn’t stick out so abruptly in this view.  This is one of my favorite things about walking bridges–seeing how the appearance of a particular location can change drastically when viewed from different locations.  The Thames River is particularly good for this as it twists and turns quite a bit as it passes through London.  This causes the incomplete tower to look like it is right next to the other tall building, when in reality they are separated by a fair distance and are on opposite sides of the river (again refer to the Lambeth Bridge post for a different view of these buildings).