WATERLOO BRIDGE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19504, 7 December 1926, Page 11

WATERLOO BRIDGE.

PRESERVATION ADVOCATED. REPORT OF COMMISSION. A. and N.Z. LONDON, Dec. 5. The Royal Commission on the Thames Bridges announces that it is unanimously in favour of preserving Waterloo Bridge, but recommends adapting it to present needs. It is admitted that the strengthening and widening of the bridge will be expensive. Waterloo Bridge is considered to be the finest of the Thames bridges. For some time the bridge has been cracking and the London Traffic Committee stated that it had failed by reason of age and traffic stresses, and because its foundations are on soft material. The question of repairing the present beautiful structure, or of building a new bridge, led to much discussion and divergence of opinion. The London County Council voted in favour of a new bridge; such bodies as the Royal Academy, the Royal Institution of British Architects and many prominent architects and engineers appealed to the council to preserve "the noblest bridge in the world." This view has now won the approval of the Royal Commission appointed in June last to consider the whole question of the Thames bridges. Waterloo Bridge was opened to traffic in 1817. Its designer was the famous engineer, John Ronnie, who also designed London Bridge.