Tower Bridge as its northern landfall is in Tower Hamlets. The bridge consists of two bridge towers tied together at the upper level by two horizontal walkways, designed to withstand the horizontal tension forces exerted by the suspended sections of the bridge on the landward sides of the towers. The vertical components of the forces in the suspended sections and the vertical reactions of the two walkways are carried by the two robust towers. The bascule pivots and operating machinery are housed in the base of each tower. Before its restoration in the 2010s, the bridge's colour scheme dated from 1977, when
Tower Bridge (California) had crossed the bridge on November 7, 1935. The Tower Bridge was the first vertical lift bridge in the California Highway System after it was formally accepted by the state on January 11, 1936. The railroad tracks were removed in 1963. With the removal of the tracks, the roadway was restriped for four automobile lanes. However, due to the nearby railroad tracks that pass by the bridge, the grade crossing before the bridge on the Capitol Mall side is designed to act as a secondary barrier to prevent vehicular traffic from entering the bridge while raising or lowering. When the