19th-century London of the Thames from the City of London westwards experienced a flurry of bridge-building during the 19th century, improving overland communication to South London. At the turn of the 19th century there were only three existing bridges in Central London: Westminster Bridge, Blackfriars Bridge, and the ancient London Bridge. Beyond Westminster, the closest bridge was that of Battersea, three miles upstream from Westminster Bridge. All four were demolished and rebuilt over the course of the century (completed in 1862, 1869, 1831,and 1885 respectively). In addition, a slew of new bridges for road, pedestrian, and railway traffic were built: Southwark Bridge
Tunnels underneath the River Thames the Port of London, which until the 1980s required large ships to be able to access the river as far upstream as the City of London. Until the construction of the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge in 1991, the easternmost bridge on the Thames was Tower Bridge in central London. Even now, the Dartford Crossing provides the only way to cross the Thames by road between London and the sea (with predictable results for traffic congestion). The width of the river downstream meant that tunnels were the only options for crossings before improvements in technology allowed the construction of high bridges