Tower Bridge

The Tower Bridge is one of the best known attractions in London. The Tower Bridge has been built because the excisting pedestrian subway (1870) was not sufficient for the amout of traffic it had to deal with.
A Special Bridge or Subway Committee was formed in 1876, chaired by A. J. Altman, to find a solution to the river crossing problem. After many designs where submitted to the Comittee, the design of Horace Jones eventually was chosen as the solution for the river crossing problem.
In 1884 the constructors startet with Tower Bridge and finished after 8 year's of building.
The Tower Bridge has to towers, each of 65 meters high. The bridge span between the two towers is 61 meter and the total bridge is 244 meters long.

One of the most remarkable aspects of the winning design, is the pedestrian bridge far above the 'normal' bridge. This was made so that the pedrastrains didn't had to wait in case the bridge had to open for passing ships.
But most pedestrians preferred to wait and watch the passing boats. Therefor the pedestrian bridge was closed after a few years.

The Tower Bridge is still in use as a bridge, on average it opens around 900 times for passing ships every year. But most people know the Tower Bridge as the beautifull landmark in London. You can see the Towerbridge from almost anywhere nearby the Thames, but if you want to visit the bridge, you can walk across, ot visit the museum. The museum will cost you around £6,- and will bring you to the old steam engines of the bascule bridge.