Tower bridge

6.1

Presentatie door een scholier
3e klas tto vwo | 396 woorden
13 juni 2015
35 keer beoordeeld

6.1

35 keer beoordeeld

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Well this is the tower bridge. How comes the Tower Bridge is called the Tower Bridge: it’s close to the Tower of London, which we have just visited before. That’s why it’s named the Tower Bridge.

The river flowing underneath the bridge is called the Thames. The Thames is the longest river of England. It’s 346 km long and ends up in the North Sea.

Why is the Bridge built? In the second half of the 19th century the commercial activities increased in London. People needed to be able to cross the river in a way or another. Therefore a tunnel was built, the Tower Subway. Unfortunately only pedestrians were able to cross the Thames. The Tower subway was built in 1870.

6 years later, in 1876, the Organisation Bridge or Subway comity was established and needed to find a solution for the problem. More than 50 people sent there solution to this organisation. In 1884 the comity appointed Horace Jonas to make the bridge.

From 1886 on the bridge needed to be built. When the bridge was built 432 people were needed to make the bridge. Unfortunately Jonas, the architecture, died three years later. Therefore George D. Stevenson took the leading role of the project. Stevenson made sure that the bridge looked more notable and to make it in harmony with the Tower of London.

In the past the mechanism for opening and closing the bridge was hydraulic. This means that the needed water pressure was livered by steam machines. Nowadays the bridge is opened electrically. But the original steam machines are still present, namely under the bridge. They are left there, because it is a touristic attraction. The bridge will be opened approximately 1000 times a year.

Some facts:

The bridge is 244 metres long
The highest point of the towers is 65 metres high
The footbridges are at a height of 44 metres.
The footbridges have been closed for a long time, because many people killed suicide from the bridges
In 1894 the bridge cost 1.2 million pounds. If we change that to modern times it will be more than 100 million pounds.
11 000 ton steel was needed to build the bridge
More than 31 million bricks were needed to build the bridge
The bridge is called Bascule Bridge and can be opened 86 degrees
Ships of almost 45 metres high could pass the tower bridge
Approximately 40 000 vehicles pass the bridge every day.