London bridges across the river Thames: 12 Lambeth bridge

Lambeth bridge

the current structure, a five-span steel arch, designed by engineer Sir George Humphreys and architects Sir Reginald Blomfield and G. Topham Forrest was built by Dorman Long and opened on 19 July 1932 by king George V. the most conspicuous colour in the bridge's paint scheme is red, the same colour as the leather benches in the House of Lords which is at the southern end of the Palace of Westminster nearest the bridge – the red has now faded to a rather strange shade of pink and rust

it is a road traffic and footbridge and formerly carried four lanes of road traffic (now reduced to three lanes, one of which is a buses-only lane flowing eastbound) from a roundabout junction by the Lambeth palace northwards to another roundabout, at Horseferry road (the road name gives a clue to a previous crossing: a ferry operated on the site for some years)

the previous structure was a suspension bridge designed by Peter W. Barlow which opened as a toll bridge in 1862 but doubts about its safety, coupled with its awkwardly steep approaches deterring horse-drawn traffic, meant it soon became used almost solely as a pedestrian crossing. it ceased to be a toll bridge in 1879 when the Metropolitan Board of Works assumed responsibility for its upkeep — it was by then severely corroded