Tower Bridge Assignment

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(This i made for a school project. ) Tower Bridge for exhibition The River Thames is full of bridges. But no bridge can be compared to this one. It is one of the most remarkable bridges in the whole world. You cannot visit London without seeing Tower Bridge. Background Originally London Bridge was the only bridge across the Thames. As London grew larger more bridges were added, although these were all built west of London Bridge, since the area east of London Bridge had become a busy port. Then in the 19th the east end of London became extremely crowded. When the people of the east had to cross the Thames they had to get all the way to London Bridge. So journeys for pedestrians and vehicles were being delayed by hours. It was a huge problem, so a bridge across the Thames on the east side of London Bridge seemed necessary. Finally in 1876 a special Bridge or Subway Committee was formed to solve the problem. The problem could be delayed no longer. It was a very difficult assignment because an ordinary bridge (fixed bridge) could not be built. That would cut off access from sailing ships with tall masts to the port facilities in the Pool of London, between London Bridge and the Tower of London. The Pool of London was where big ships came with imported cargo and unloaded it at the Port of London (which was the biggest port in the world at that time). So cutting of access to that would not be clever. Over 50 designs were submitted. It took a long time, and a lot of discussion before the actually design was chosen. Not until 1884 where a design submitted by Horace Jones, the City Architect (who was also one of the judges) was a design approved. To allow river traffic, Jones’ engineer, Sir John Wolfe Barry, devised the idea of a bascule bridge with two towers built on piers. The central span was split into two equal bascules or leaves, which could be raised

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