Tower Bridge, London
Tower Bridge was designed and built in the second half of the 19th century, at a time when the Port of London was one of the busiest ports in the world. Commercial development in the East End of London called for a new river crossing downstream from London Bridge.
A traditional fixed bridge could not be built there as it would block access to the port facilies located further upstream, between London Bridge and the present Tower Bridge. A committee was formed in 1876 to find a solution to this problem. A competition was held to find a suitable design. It attracted over 50 designs. The design submitted by Horace Jones, the City Architect (and apparently, one of the judges), was the one selected. Needless to say, the choice created much controversy.
The design called for a combined bascule and suspension bridge. Jones' engineer, Sir John Wolfe Barry devised the idea of a bascule bridge 800 feet (244 m) in length with two towers each 213 feet (65 m) high, built on piers. The central span is 200 feet (61 m), and is split between two equal bascules or leaves which could be raised to an angle of 83 degrees to allow boats to pass through. Each of the bascule weighs over 1,000 tons. They are counterbalanced to minimize the force required to raise them, and to ensure raising can be done in five minutes.
Tower Bridge, LondonSource: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:006SFEC_TOWER_BRIDGE-200705.JPG
Author: Steve F-E-Cameron
The two side-spans are suspension bridges, each 270 feet (82 m) long, with the suspension rods anchored both at the abutments and through rods contained within the bridge's upper walkways. The pedestrian walkways are 143 feet (44 m) above the river at high tide.
Construction of the Tower Bridge started in 1886 and took eight years under five major contractors – Sir John Jackson (foundations), Baron Armstrong (hydraulics), William Webster, Sir H.H. Bartlett, and Sir William Arrol. 432 construction workers were employed.
Two massive piers containing over 70,000 tons of concrete, were sunk into the Thames river bed to support the construction. Over 11,000 tons of steel provided the framework for the towers and walkways. This was then clad in Cornish granite and Portland stone, to protect the underlying steelwork as well as to give the bridge a pleasing appearance. The total cost of construction amounted to £1,184,000.
The Tower Bridge was officially opened on 30 June 1894 by the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII, and his wife, Alexandra of Denmark. It replaced the Tower Subway 400m to the west, which was the world's first underground tube railway built in 1870. Until the Tower Bridge was built, the Tower Subway was the shortest way to cross the Thames from Tower Hill to Tooley Street in Southwark.
How to reach the Tower Bridge
The nearest London Underground station is the Tower Hill station.List of Bridges in London and Bridges in the United Kingdom
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