Now, Tower Bridge is falling down...

Press, 20 April 1979, Page 15

Now, Tower Bridge is falling down...

From

KEN COATES

in London

Tower Bridge, symbol of London, was in danger of being shaken to pieces by the juggernauts of heavy road transport, so it has been closed to big trucks to save it from irreparable damage. The bridge, opened in 1894, is now used by 35,000 vehicles a day. But the City of London Corporation found that huge lorries were setting off dangerous vibrations all over the structure. rhe constant shaking

has caused cracks in the mortar binding the granite blocks covering the steel bridge. And even the inner steel structure has been threatened. In the attic of one of the towers, 45 metres above the central roadway, is a tall ladder reaching to the ceiling. Every time a heavy truck passed far below, the ladder trembled — an indication of the strength of the vibrations. Not long ago, a solid,

1.2 metre long slab of granite, dislocated by the constant shaking, plummeted from the top of the south tower on to the middle of the roadway below. Fortunately, this happened in the middle of the night, and the heavy stone only made a dent in the sealed roadway. It would have crushed a small car and its occupants. A limit now prohibits trucks of five tons or

more unladen weight from using Tower Bridge. This means 4000 heavy vehicles a day have to find alternative routes across the 1 names, in addition, kerbs on the bridge have been re-aligned to prevent formation of two lines of traffic in each direction, thus easing the total load. Tower Bridge boldly spans the Thames between its two extravagant, ornate, granite towers that look like narrow castles rising from the river.

'Die bridge is an engineering masterpiece. The centre span consists of two massive bascules, or levered drawbridges, which can be drawn up to allow the ships to pass up and down. At the time Tower Bridge was opened, the bascules were raised by hydraulic power. But two years ago the system was converted to electricity, and it works as well as

ever. Will the ban on the heavy monsters of the road be enough to stop further structural damage? If it is not, City of London officials gloomily admit the only way to save Tower Bridge will be to close it to all vehicles Except possibly to horse-drawn traffic, for which the bridge was originally built.