| London Bridge in Lake Havasu | |
|---|---|
London Bridge in Lake Havasu City |
|
| Carries | McCulloch Boulevard |
| Crosses | Bridgewater Channel Canal |
| Locale | London, England, United Kingdom Lake Havasu City, Arizona, USA |
| Designer | John Rennie |
| Design | arch bridge |
| Material | masonry and reinforced concrete |
| Total length | 930 feet (280 m)[1] |
| Longest span | 45.6 metres (150 ft)[2] |
| Number of spans | 5 |
| Construction begin | 1968 |
| Construction end | 1971 (reconstructed) |
| Toll | None |
| Closed | 1967[1] (pre-move) |
London Bridge is a bridge in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, United States, that is the reconstruction of the 1831 London Bridge that spanned the River Thames in London, England until it was dismantled in 1967. The Arizona bridge is a reinforced concrete structure clad in the original masonry of the 1830s bridge, that was bought by Robert P. McCulloch from the City of London. McCulloch had exterior granite blocks from the original bridge numbered and transported to America, to construct the present bridge in Lake Havasu City, a planned community he established in 1964 on the shore of Lake Havasu. The bridge was completed in 1971 (along with a canal), and links an island in the lake with the main part of Lake Havasu City.
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The 1831 London Bridge was the last project of engineer John Rennie and completed by his son, also named John Rennie[3]. By 1962, the bridge was not sound enough to support the increased load of modern traffic, and was sold by the City of London.
The purchaser, Robert McCulloch, was the founder of Lake Havasu and the chairman of McCulloch Oil Corporation. McCulloch purchased the bridge to serve as a tourist attraction to his retirement real estate development at Lake Havasu City, which at that time was far from the usual tourist track. The idea was successful, bringing interested tourists and retirement home buyers to the area.
After relocation to America, the bridge was reconstructed in Lake Havasu City, a developed community on the east shore of Lake Havasu, a large reservoir on the Colorado River. The bridge was not reconstructed over a river, but rather it was rebuilt on land in a position between the main part of the city and Pittsburgh Point, at that time a peninsula jutting into Lake Havasu. Once completed, the Bridgewater Channel Canal was dredged under the bridge and flooded, separating Pittsburgh Point from the city, creating an island. The bridge thus now traverses a navigable shortcut between the Thompson Bay part of Lake Havasu south of Pittsburgh Point, and the remainder of Lake Havasu to the north[4].
The bridge facing stones were disassembled and each was numbered. After the bridge was dismantled it was transported to Merrivale Quarry where 15 to 20 cm was sliced off many of the original stones. These were shipped to the bridge's present location and re-assembly began in 1968. The original stone was used to clad a concrete structure, so that the bridge is no longer the original after which it is modeled.[1] The reconstruction took slightly over three years and was completed in late 1971. Today, it serves as a popular tourist attraction for the city.
Recent years have seen a large amount of development in the area of the bridge to increase tourist interest. The original "English Village", a quaint English-style open air mall with hedge maze and historical museum, has deteriorated, with sections leveled.
It is a popular rumour that the bridge was bought in the belief that it was London's more recognizable Tower Bridge,[5][6][7] but this was ardently denied by McCulloch himself and by Ivan Luckin, who sold the bridge.[8]
The bridge's relocation was the basis of a 1985 made for TV movie Bridge Across Time (also known as Arizona Ripper or Terror at London Bridge), directed by E.W. Swackhamer and starring David Hasselhoff and Stepfanie Kramer.[9] In the film, a series of murders in Lake Havasu is attributed to the spirit of Jack the Ripper, whose soul is transported to the United States in one of the bricks of the bridge. Also, the movie "Falling Down", the title of which references the nursery rhyme "London Bridge is Falling Down", has a Los Angeles cop's wife who wants to relocate to Lake Havasu City after he retires.