Vauxhall Bridge

arch bridge in central London

Vauxhall Bridge is a steel and granite bridge in central London. It crosses the River Thames in a north-west south-east direction between Vauxhall on the south bank and Westminster on the north bank.

Vauxhall Bridge
Coordinates51°29′15″N 0°07′37″W / 51.4875°N 0.1269°W / 51.4875; -0.1269
Carries4 lanes of roadway, cyclists, and pedestrians
CrossesRiver Thames
LocaleLondon
Preceded byRegent Bridge (Old Vauxhall Bridge) 1816–1898
Characteristics
DesignArch bridge
MaterialSteel and granite
Total length809 feet (247 m)
Width80 feet (24 m)
No. of spans5
Piers in water4
Clearance below39 feet 9 inches (12.1 m) at lowest astronomical tide[1]
History
DesignerSir Alexander Binnie,
Sir Maurice Fitzmaurice
Opened26 May 1906
Statistics
Daily traffic50,533 vehicles (2004)[2]
Location
Map

History change

Vauzhall Bridge in 1906. It replaced an earlier bridge as part of a program for redeveloping the south bank of the Thames. The original bridge was itself built on the site of a former ferry.

The building of both bridges was difficult, with both the first and second bridges needing multiple redesigns from multiple architects. The original bridge, the first iron bridge over the Thames, was built by a private company and was run as a toll bridge before being taken into public ownership in 1879. The second bridge, which took eight years to build, was the first in London to carry trams and later one of the first two roads in London to have a bus lane.

The present bridge is most significant for road traffic across the Thames.

In June 2012, the bridge was highlighted on the route of Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee Pageant on the Thames.[3]

Related pages change

References change

  1. Thames Bridges Heights, Port of London Authority, retrieved 2009-05-25
  2. Cookson 2006, p. 316
  3. Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant, Key facts Archived 2012-06-05 at the Wayback Machine; Londontown.com, "Thames Jubilee Pageant,"; retrieved 2012-6-4.

Further reading change

Other websites change