Kew Bridge

51.487222222222 - 0.2875Koordinaten: 51 ° 29 ' 14 " N, 0 ° 17' 15 " W

F1

Cuthbert A. Brereton

The Kew Bridge is a road bridge over the River Thames in London. It connects the district of Brentford in the London Borough of Hounslow on the north side with the district Kew in London Borough of Richmond upon Thames on the south side.

The bridge forms the transition between the A205 and the A406, the northern and southern ring road of London. On the south side it is immediately adjacent to the Royal Botanic Gardens. It consists of Cornish granite, is 360 feet long and the largest of the three arches has a span of 40.5 meters. The road is 17 meters wide, the sidewalks of 2.90 meters.

History

The existing bridge that stands today is the third at this location. The first was commissioned by Robert Tunstall from Brentford, who had previously operated a ferry here. The Prince of Wales, later King George III. , The bridge was opened on 1 June 1759. Three days later she was released to the public, the toll was between 1 Penny for pedestrians and 1 shilling 6 pence for a carriage with four horses. The first bridge consisted of two stone arches at each end, with between seven wooden arches. Thus, the maintenance was very expensive.

1782 was Robert Tunstall Jr., the son of the builder of the first bridge, the approval to build a new building. Construction began on June 4, 1783. Architect was James Paine, who had previously designed the Richmond Bridge. The completely made ​​of stone building was built parallel to the old bridge, so as not to interfere with traffic during the construction period. King George III. opened the second bridge on 22 September 1789. Tolls was a halfpenny for pedestrians and six pence per horse. A Mr. Robinson auctioned in 1819 the bridge for £ 23,000.

After a second auction in 1873 acquired a joint committee of the Corporation of London and the Metropolitan Board of Works, the bridge for £ 57,300. The toll was abolished on February 8 of that year. At the beginning of the 1890s, the leaders had become aware that the bridge the ever increasing traffic could no longer cope. The steep access ramp in Brentford had already become too narrow. John Wolfe Barry in 1892 invited to inspect the bridge. He recommended a new building and advised on a reconstruction of the existing bridge.

1898 authorized the county administrations of Middlesex and Surrey which provided construction cost of £ 250,000. The civil engineers responsible were John Wolfe - Barry and Cuthbert A. Brereton. Before the demolition of the second bridge from October to December 1899 was built upriver a temporary bridge made ​​of wood. The third Kew Bridge was officially opened on May 20 in 1903 King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.