The Tower Bridge is a swing and suspension bridge of London, built between 1886 and 1894, that crosses the River Thames near the Tower of London and has become one of the symbols of the city .

The bridge consists of two bridge towers joined together at the top by two horizontal walkways, designed to resist horizontal tensile forces exerted by the hanging sections of the bridge that are on both sides of the towers. The vertical components of the forces in the hanging sections and the vertical reactions of the two walkways are supported by the two robust towers. The tilting pivots and machinery are housed at the base of each tower. Before its restoration in the 2010s, the bridge's colors dated back to 1977, when it was painted red, white, and blue for Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee. Its colors were later restored to blue and white.

The bridge is 244 m long with two 65 m towers built on piers. The 61 m central span between the towers is divided into two equal scales or leaves, which can be raised to an 86-degree angle to allow river traffic to pass. The scales, which weigh more than 1,000 tons each, are counterweighted to minimize the force required and allow them to be lifted in as little as five minutes. The two lateral spans are suspension bridges, each 82 m long, whose cables are anchored both to the piers and through bars on the bridge's upper walkways. The footbridges are 44 m above the river at high tide.

Date: October 2019
Additional information: Wikipedia