Tower Bridge high-level walkways popular

Press, 8 September 1982, Page 5

Tower Bridge high-level walkways popular

By DIANA DEKKER, < in London The high-level walkways of London’s Tower Bridge have attracted more than 150,000 people since they were opened to the public this summer. The walkways, linking the bridge’s twin towers, were strengthened as part of a £ 2.5 million conversion of the interior of the bridge into a tourist attraction. The walkways, 140 ft above the Thames, were originally included in the design of Tower Bridge because a Parliamentary act decreed that the public should have access to cross the river at all times. At the turn of the century they were closed because they became a congregating place for undesirables.

Tower Bridge, a famous London landmark, took eight years to build and was completed in 1894 at a cost of just over £1 million. At the time it was hailed as one of the great engineering wonders of the world. Its bascules, weighing more than 1000 tons, were once opened to shipping up to 50 times a day. Now, the 200 ft roadway sections are only raised about 12 times a month to allow shipping into the river between Tower and London bridges. The bridge in its early days had a permanent staff of 120. They included a blacksmith, 30 painters, stokers, gas fitters, and other artisans, as well as a team of men who were there to collect the horsedroppings.