Four giant bolts which are key to Tower Bridge’s opening-and-closing mechanism have been replaced during overnight maintenance work.
The ‘nose bolts’, which are each 2m long, slide in and out of the bascules – the moving parts of the bridge – and lock the roadways in place when they are lowered.
This is the first time since the 1970s that the bolts have been replaced on the iconic London bridge.
The work was carried out by South Yorkshire-based bridge specialist 3RS Engineering.
Tower Bridge is one of five Thames crossings owned and maintained by the 900-year-old charity City Bridge Foundation, set up by the City of London Corporation. As well as Tower Bridge, it looks after London Bridge, Southwark Bridge, Millennium Bridge, and Blackfriars Bridge.
