Vauxhall Bridge

Vauxhall Bridge
Coordinates	51°29′15″N 0°07′37″W / 51.48750°N 0.12694°W / 51.48750; -0.12694
Carries	A202 road
Crosses	River Thames
Locale	London
Maintained by	Transport for London
Heritage status	Grade II* listed
Preceded by	Grosvenor Railway Bridge
Followed by	Lambeth Bridge
Characteristics
Design	Arch bridge
Material	Steel and granite
Total length	809 feet (247 m)
Width	80 feet (24 m)
No. of spans	5
Piers in water	4
Clearance below	39 feet 9 inches (12.1 m) at lowest astronomical tide[1]
History
Designer	Sir Alexander Binnie, Sir Maurice Fitzmaurice
Opened	26 May 1906; 117 years ago (1906-05-26)
Replaces	Regent Bridge (Old Vauxhall Bridge) 1816–98
Statistics
Daily traffic	50,533 vehicles (2004)[2]
Location

Vauxhall Bridge is a Grade II* listed steel and granite deck arch bridge in central London. It crosses the River Thames in a southeast–northwest direction between Vauxhall on the south bank and Pimlico on the north bank. Opened in 1906, it replaced an earlier bridge, originally known as Regent Bridge but later renamed Vauxhall Bridge, built between 1809 and 1816 as part of a scheme for redeveloping the south bank of the Thames. The bridge was built at a location in the river previously served by a ferry.

The building of both iterations of the bridge was problematic, with both the first and second bridges requiring several redesigns from multiple architects. The original bridge, the first iron bridge over the Thames, was built by a private company and operated as a toll bridge before being taken into public ownership in 1879. The second bridge, which took eight years to build, was the first in London to carry trams and later one of the first two roads in London to have a bus lane.

In 1963 it was proposed to replace the bridge with a modern development containing seven floors of shops, office space, hotel rooms and leisure facilities supported above the river, but the plans were abandoned because of costs. With the exception of alterations to the road layout and the balustrade, the design and appearance of the current bridge has remained almost unchanged since 1907. The bridge today is an important part of London's road system and carries the A202 road and Cycle Superhighway 5 (CS5) across the Thames.