What is Waterloo Bridge?
{{Infobox Bridge | |image = River Thames and Waterloo Bridge, London-17Aug2009.jpg |image_size=300px |bridge_name = Waterloo Bridge |caption = [[River Thames]] and Waterloo Bridge<br>(as seen from the [[London Eye]] observation wheel) |official_name = |locale = [[London]], [[England]] |carries = 4 lanes of Motor vehicles and Pedestrians |crosses = [[River Thames]] |maint = |open = [[1945]] |below = |traffic = |design = [[Arch Bridge]] |toll = |mainspan = 71 m |length = |width = |heritage = [[Listed building|Grade II* listed structure]] }} '''Waterloo Bridge''' is a road and foot traffic bridge crossing the [[River Thames]] in [[London]], [[England]] between [[Blackfriars Bridge]] and [[Hungerford Bridge]]. == History == The first bridge on the site was designed in 1809-10 by [[John Rennie (engineer)|John Rennie]] for the Strand Bridge Company and opened in 1817 as a [[toll bridge]]. The [[granite]] bridge had nine arches, each of {{convert|120|ft|m|1}} span, separated by double Grecian-Doric stone columns and was {{convert|2456|ft|m|1}} long, including approaches. Before its opening it was known as '[[Strand, London|Strand]] Bridge'. During the 1840s the bridge gained a reputation as a popular place for suicide attempts. In 1844 [[Thomas Hood]] wrote the poem [[The Bridge of Sighs (poem)|''The Bridge of Sighs'']] about the suicide of a prostitute there.<ref>Ebeneezer Brewer (1970), ''Brewers Dictionary of Phrase and Fable'' Cassell. p.152.</ref> Paintings of the bridge were created by the French [[Impressionist]] [[Claude Monet]] and English Impressionist, [[John Constable]]. The bridge was nationalised in 1878 and given to the [[Metropolitan Board of Works]], who removed the toll from it. In June 2012, the bridge was highlighted on the [[wikt:route|route]] of [[Queen Elizabeth II]]'s [[Diamond Jubilee]] Pageant on the Thames.<ref>Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant, [http://www1.thamesdiamondjubileepageant.org/KeyFacts.aspx Key facts] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120605190444/http://www2.tha