Queen Elizabeth II Bridge

The Queen Elizabeth II Bridge is a high and long cable-stayed road bridge across the River Thames in south east England. It was opened in 1991 by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

The bridge is the southbound element of the Dartford Crossing, a strategic congestion charged road crossing the half mile wide river east of London. It was built alongside two earlier tunnels under the Thames, which now form the northbound element of the crossing.

Upon completion, the bridge was Europe's largest cable-supported bridge. As of 2010 by main span length it is the second largest cable-stayed bridge in the United Kingdom behind the Second Severn Crossing (6 m longer and opened in 1996) and the 44th largest cable-stayed bridge in the world.

The bridge connects Bluewater and Lakeside, the second and seventh largest shopping centres in the United Kingdom respectively.

Locale

The bridge is the easternmost road bridge crossing the River Thames. At the time of opening it was only the second bridge on the River Thames east (downstream) of London Bridge constructed in over a thousand years. The historic reason for this is that bridges prohibited tall ships and other large ships from reaching the Pool of London, which has led to the building of numerous tunnels instead, until the construction of large bridges became feasible.

Specifications

The bridge's main span, the length of road deck between its two main towers (pylons), measures . This together with two 181 m outer...
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