TOWER BRIDGE

Description

Essentials about the Tower Bridge in brief

It is probably the most famous bridge in the world and, along with Big Ben, the main landmark of London: Tower Bridge. The suspension and bascule bridge connects the borough of Tower Hamlets in the north with the borough of Southwark in the south and spans the Thames over a length of 244 meters. The bridge forms part of London’s inner ring road and is used by around 40,000 vehicles every day. Tower Bridge owes its name to its direct proximity to the Tower of London on the north side of the Thames.

The history and architecture of the Tower Bridge

The trigger for the construction of the bridge at the end of the 19th century was the enormous population growth and the resulting increase in traffic volume in London. More than six million inhabitants already populated the British capital at that time. In particular, the growing traffic in the port areas in the East End made it necessary to build a river crossing to the east of London Bridge. A traditional fixed bridge was out of the question because it would have cut off access to the then existing port facilities close to the center between London Bridge and the Tower of London. Therefore, a tube, the Tower Subway, was built under the river in 1870. This served, after a short period of operation as a subway tube, but then only as a tunnel for pedestrians.

Finally, in 1876, a committee was formed to hold a public competition to solve the transportation problem. Consideration of the more than 50 proposals dragged on for years, and it was not until 1884 that the concept by Horace Jonas, who incidentally was himself a member of the jury as the City of London’s master builder, was approved. Construction work on the bridge began in 1886, and in order to support the huge structure, two enormous piers weighing 70,000 tons had to be sunk into the riverbed. The towers of the bridge were clad in limestone, both to protect the steel underneath and to give Tower Bridge a more pleasing appearance (which was visibly successful). In 1894, Tower Bridge was finally officially opened.

Between the two 65 meter high bridge towers run two footbridges for pedestrians at a height of 43 meters. These pedestrian footbridges span the towers together at the top and transmit the horizontal tensile forces of the suspension bridge cable pairs. The two movable structural members of the road bridge can be folded up to an angle of 86 degrees to allow large ships to pass through. However, this is less and less necessary today, as the Thames in the urban area of London is largely used for tourism by smaller ships.

The upper footbridges for the pedestrian link are immovable, so it is possible to cross the river on foot even when the bridge is up (but at the cost of having to climb the stairs located in the towers with a height difference of 34 meters to the road bridge). The footbridges now house a bridge museum, where pictures and models show the construction and history of the bridge.