Chiswick Bridge | |
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| Coordinates | 51°28′23″N0°16′11″W / 51.47306°N 0.26972°W /51.47306; -0.26972 |
| Carries | A316 road |
| Crosses | River Thames |
| Locale | Mortlake andChiswick |
| Maintained by | Transport for London |
| Preceded by | Kew Railway Bridge |
| Followed by | Barnes Railway Bridge |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Deck arch bridge |
| Material | Reinforced concrete,Portland stone |
| Total length | 606 feet (185 m) |
| Width | 70 feet (21 m) |
| Longest span | 150 feet (46 m) |
| No. of spans | 5 |
| Piers in water | 2 |
| Clearance below | 39 feet (12 m) atlowest astronomical tide[1] |
| History | |
| Designer | Sir Herbert Baker and Alfred Dryland |
| Constructed by | Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company |
| Opened | 3 July 1933; 91 years ago (1933-07-03) |
| Statistics | |
| Daily traffic | 39,710 vehicles (2004)[2] |
| Location | |
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Chiswick Bridge is areinforced concretedeck arch bridge over theRiver Thames inWest London. It is one of three bridges opened in 1933 as part of an ambitious scheme to relieve traffic congestion west of London. The structure carries theA316 road betweenChiswick on the north bank of the Thames andMortlake on the south bank.
The bridge is built on the site of a formerferry. It is 606 feet (185 m) long and faced with 3,400tons ofPortland stone. When the 150-foot (46 m) central span opened it was the longest concrete span over the Thames. The bridge is well known for its proximity to the end ofThe Championship Course, the stretch of the Thames used for theBoat Race and other rowing events.
The villages ofChiswick andMortlake, about 6 miles (9.7 km) west of central London on the north and south banks of theRiver Thames, had been linked by aferry since at least the 17th century. Both areas were sparsely populated, so there was little demand for a fixed river crossing at that point.[3]
With the arrival of railways and theLondon Underground in the 19th century commuting to London became practical and affordable, and the populations of Chiswick and Mortlake grew rapidly. In 1909 theGreat Chertsey Road scheme was proposed, which envisaged building a major new road fromHammersmith, then on the outskirts of London, toChertsey, 18 miles (29 km) west of central London,bypassing the towns ofKingston andRichmond.[3] However, the scheme was abandoned due to costs and arguments between various interested parties over the exact route the road should take.[3][4]
After theFirst World War, the population of the west London suburbs continued to grow, thanks to improved rail transport links and the growth in ownership ofautomobiles. In 1925, theMinistry of Transport convened a conference betweenSurrey andMiddlesexcounty councils with the aim of reaching a solution to the congestion problem, and the Great Chertsey Road scheme was revived.[5] In 1927, the Royal Commission on Cross-River Traffic approved the scheme to relieve the by then chronic traffic congestion on the existing, mostly narrow, streets in the area, and on the narrow bridges atRichmond Bridge,Kew andHammersmith.[6] The Ministry of Transport agreed to pay heavy subsidies towards the cost.[3]
A newarterial road, now theA316 road, was givenRoyal Assent on 3 August 1928, and construction began in 1930.[3] The construction of the road required two new bridges to be built, atTwickenham and Chiswick.[6] The proposal was authorised in 1928 and construction began in the same year.[5] The bridge, along with the newly built Twickenham Bridge and the rebuiltHampton Court Bridge, was opened byEdward, Prince of Wales on 3 July 1933,[6] and the ferry service was permanently closed.[3]
The new bridge was designed inreinforced concrete by architectSir Herbert Baker and engineer Alfred Dryland, with additional input from Considère Constructions, at the time Britain's leading specialist in reinforced concrete construction.[6]
The bridge has concretefoundations supporting a five-archcellular reinforced concretesuperstructure.[6] Thedeck is supported by a concealed lattice ofcolumns andbeams rising from the arched superstructure.[5] The structure is faced with 3,400tons ofPortland stone, except for underneath the arches.[6][7] The bridge is 606 feet (185 m) long, and carries two 15-foot (4.6 m) wide walkways, and a 40-foot (12 m) wide road.[6] At the time it was built, the 150-foot (46 m) central span was the longest concrete span over the Thames.[7]
Unusually for a Thames bridge, only three of Chiswick Bridge's five spans cross the river; the shorter spans at each end of the bridge cross the formertowpaths.[8] To allow sufficient clearance for industrial barges yet avoid steep inclines, the approach roads are elevated on embankments.[9]
The bridge was built by theCleveland Bridge & Engineering Company at a cost of £208,284 (about £18,678,000 in 2025).[10][11] Additional costs such as building the approach roads and buying land brought the total project cost to £227,600 (about £20,410,000 in 2025).[5][11][n 1] The Ministry of Transport paid 75% of the cost, with Surrey and Middlesex county councils paying the rest.
The bridge was generally well received.Country Life praised the design as "reflecting in its general design the eighteenth centuryPalladian tradition of Lord Burlington's famous villa at Chiswick".[12][n 2]
Chiswick Bridge is a major transport route, and the eighth busiest of London's 20 Thames road bridges.[2] It is possibly best known for its proximity to the finishing line ofThe Championship Course, the stretch of the Thames used for theBoat Race and other rowing events.[7] AUniversity Boat Race Stone on the south shore, an urban embankment, faces a brightly painted Cambridge and Oxford blues wooden obelisk. This is the end of the course – 370 feet (110 m) east of the bridge.[8]
The towpath under the bridge on the southern bank now forms part of theThames Path.[8] As at 2009 the northernmost arch was used by theTideway Scullerssculling (and rowing) club as storage space.[13]
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