The Thames Barge Driving Race under oars' or "sweeps" and ride tidal river currents alone, up river. The event commemorates the skills of lightermen who moved freight this way along the Thames up until the 1930s and in a wider context it encourages ongoing interest in moving cargo via water and as a way to recruit younger people back into river trades.The teams are normally made up of employees of Thames Lighterage companies, Port of London Authority or are sponsored by local businesses. The best places to view the race are Tower Bridge, London Bridge and Westminster Bridge. During the 1970s Britain suffered a major
Thames Gateway Bridge A406/A13 junction in Beckton with the A2016 Eastern Way and Western Way in Thamesmead and serve the new Thames Gateway development. The bridge was to have a span of about , with a vertical clearance for ships but be low enough not to impede the flight approach to the nearby London City Airport. The bridge was to have had four lanes for general traffic and two lanes for public transport use. It would also have had a cycle lane, a pedestrian walkway and the facility for a Docklands Light Railway crossing. For pedestrians the nearest other crossings are the Greenwich