Westminster Bridge

51.500833333333 - 0.12166666666667Koordinaten: 51 ° 30 '3 " N, 0 ° 7' 18 " W

F1

Main road A302

Thames

Westminster Bridge is a road bridge over the River Thames in London. It connects the City of Westminster on the west side of the borough of Lambeth in the London Borough of Lambeth on the east side. It performs the main road A302. On the western shore are the Palace of Westminster, Parliament Square and the Portcullis House, on the eastern bank of the County Hall with the London Eye and Waterloo Station.

The bridge is 252 meters long and 26 meters wide. It crosses the River Thames with seven arches in wrought iron. The outer recognized as an arc facing elements of cast iron have neo-Gothic decorations by Charles Barry, architect of the Palace of Westminster. The bridge is painted green, which corresponds to the color of the leather chair in the House of Commons, the meeting room of the Westminster Bridge is facing. The Lambeth Bridge, however, is painted red, which corresponds to the color of the House of Lords.

History

During the reign of Elizabeth I, there were several times attempts to pass a law to build a bridge, but the City of London always successfully defended itself against it. The only way around to cross the river, the ferry was at today's Lambeth Bridge, its use, however, because of the tides was often dangerous. 1734 presented the Swiss civil engineer Charles Labelye a new project and with the support of the Earl of Pembroke in 1736, he managed to get the consent of Parliament.

The Earl of Pembroke in 1739 laid the foundation stone. First caissons were driven out of cast iron in the river bed. But the works were under an unlucky star: Despite the permission to perform a lottery, there were constant funding problems. Hard winters, wars on the European continent, sabotage by boatmen, accidents and a small earthquake made ​​for numerous delays. In masonry cracks appeared and 1747 stones fell from the fifth arch bridge into the river. Only in 1750 was the 316 meter long and 13.5 meter wide bridge will be opened. In the meantime, she had received the unflattering nickname Bridge of Fools (Bridge of Fools ).

The bridge had a habit to falter on their foundations. After 1831 the old London Bridge demolished, the flood washed away the foundations of the Westminster Bridge and encamped from more and more mud. 1836 James Walker began a gradual replacement of the bridge that spanned the course of ten years.

After completion of this work he designed together with Charles Barry, George Rennie and Thomas Page a plan for a complete new building. The construction work began in 1854 with the caisson foundation of the abutments of granite. In May 1862, the new, much more stable bridge was inaugurated. Your seven elliptical arches have spans of 28.70 m to 34.90 m in the central arch, which has a clear height of 5.40 m above MHWS (mean high water spring ), the Middle Spring flood. The arches are each composed of numerous wrought-iron ribs with transverse stiffeners. Outside are covered with cast-iron facing the arches, and the ornaments with coat of arms in the spandrels are made ​​of cast iron. The deck is approximately 26 m wide and is bounded laterally with balustrades. Westminster Bridge is by the renewal of the London Bridge now the oldest Thames bridge in London. Apart from the removal of some minor cracks in 1924 and a renewal of the cast iron parts in 2005-2007 were hardly ever necessary repairs.