Albert Bridge (London)

51.482222222222 - 0.16666666666667Koordinaten: 51 ° 28 ' 56 "N, 0 ° 10' 0 " W

F1

Main road A3031

Thames

The Albert Bridge is a road bridge over the River Thames in London. It connects the neighborhood of Chelsea in the borough of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea on the north side with the district Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth on the south side. The bridge is a chain bridge, which is 216 meters long and 12.5 meters wide. The span is 122 meters. The bridge is named after Prince Albert of Saxe -Coburg and Gotha and performs the main road A3031 over the River Thames.

History

Although Parliament had in 1864 granted approval for the construction, work began in 1870 to coordinate this with the construction of the coastal road. The responsible civil engineer Rowland Mason was Ordish. The bridge represented a patented principle of him with a combination of sagging chains similar to the suspension cable of a suspension bridge and oblique chains like a cable-stayed bridge. The cost was £ 90,000. The opening took place on 31 December 1872.

The Albert Bridge Company had next to the Albert Bridge and the adjacent Battersea Bridge. But neither of the two bridges brought a sufficient toll revenues to cover the maintenance costs. In 1878 acquired the Metropolitan Board of Works both bridges and raised the toll a year later. In 1884 the bridge was strengthened and modernized under the direction of Joseph Bazalgette.

After the Second World War, the bridge proved to be too weak for the increasingly heavy vehicles. When the London County Council intended to demolish Albert Bridge, there was a huge storm of protest from preservationists, led by John Betjeman. This eventually prevailed against the city planner. In order to preserve the bridge before the collapse, increased to 1973, the foundations, put two pillars in the middle of the bridge under the road, set up an easier road and reduced the maximum weight of vehicles on two tons. To make the bridge for shipping more visible, she received a new coat of paint in an unconventional color scheme.