Relocation of a Bridge Across the Ocean

By Aisin Gioro Huayi

Relocation of a Bridge Across the Ocean

By Aisin Gioro Huayi

On Lake Havasu in the state of Arizona in the U.S.stands the London Bridge, which was originally built in the U.K. and oddly found a second home abroad.

In the early 1960s, of ficials in England made a troubling discovery: London Bridge was falling down. The bridge over 130 years of age was then unequipped for modern traffic.It was slowly sinking into the River Thames at a rate of one inch every eight years and became a hidden risk for London.

在美國的亞利桑那州哈瓦蘇湖上，矗立著一座原建于英國的著名的倫敦橋，這座橋離奇遷移在異國安了家。

二十世紀六十年代早期，英國官員們不安地發現，倫敦橋正在下沉。這座橋齡逾130年的大橋已經不能適應現代交通的需求。它正以每8年1英寸的速度慢慢沉入泰晤士河，成為倫敦市的隱患，于是市政府決定重新建造倫敦橋。

如何處置廢棄的倫敦橋，已提到市政府議事日程。

Therefore, the government decided to rebuild the London Bridge.

The disposal of the old London Bridge was brought up on the agenda. The city government specially held a parliament meeting to discuss it. At this meeting, city councilor Ivan Luckin proposed to offer this old bridge to an antique market for auction.

The city government published the auction notice and until five weeks before the auction day, not a single bid was made. Luckin believed that it was due to lack of promotion.He proposed to the government to run a press conference in New York to attract local developers. The government took his advice.

Luckin knew that London Bridge might be a tough sell. Completed in 1831 from a design by engineer John Rennie, it was the less glamorous successor of several other crossings, most notably the medieval London Bridge, which stood for 600 years and was once dotted with buildings and waterwheels. Londoners considered the existing bridge dull by comparison, but after arriving in America, Luckin promoted it as a timeless landmark.

“London Bridge is not just a bridge,” he announced in a press conference in New York. “It is the heir to 2,000 years of history going back to the first century A.D., to the time of the Roman Londinium.” This was quoted by many newspapers in their top stories.

The news was caught by U.S.real estate developer McCulloch.

Mr. McCulloch bought the development rights to 16,000-acres in Havasu Lake City in 1963, where he built houses to sell. However, hardly any were sold. He made many attempts to attract buyers but little progress was made. It was far out of the way and not many people were interested.

The idea hit McCulloch that if he brought the London Bridge to Havasu Lake City, the whole world would pay attention, and the place would become a tourist destination. Then his houses would sell and the price of the land would rise as well.

He immediately put his idea into action by submitting his bidding and starting conversations on how to move the bridge across. There wasn’t any competitor for the auction.He bought the London Bridge easily at USD 2,460,000.

It was a long distance from the U.K. to the U.S.. Taking the bridge down and packing the parts for shipping was a challenge. The London Bridge was covered by stones on the outside. To maintain its look, McCulloch asked workers to number all the parts and hoist them onto a huge ship.The ship took these parts to Long Beach in California. Then they were transported by train and trucks till they reached Havasu Lake City. There they were built into the London Bridge again according to John Rennie’s original design.

McCulloch asked his designer to build English houses,shops, and churches around the bridge to match its style and to form a unique area of “little London”.

The day when the bridge was built, many people from the U.K. as well as other parts of the world came to see this bridge from London. It wasn’t built on the lake but on a peninsula between the city and the lake.It was a beautiful scene that attracted many visitors.

People also started to buy houses here and soon all were sold. The prices soared and local residents benefited from this ancient bridge.

A worn-out bridge became an antique and with this, it not only brought prosperity to a city but also sealed its story in the history books.

（From Science and Technology Daily, June 8,2017. Translation: Zhang Lei)

如何處置廢棄的倫敦橋，已提到市政府議事日程。為此，倫敦市政府專門召開市議員討論會。在會上，伊凡·路金市議員提議，將這座倫敦橋作為古董投放到市場上拍賣。

市政府通過媒體發出拍賣通告，距離拍賣日僅剩5個星期，也沒有一個人提交申請競拍。路金認為，這是因為拍賣的宣傳不到位。他向市政府建議，到紐約召開一次新聞發布會，以吸引當地的開發商。市政府采納了他的意見。

路金知道，倫敦橋可能難以售賣。1831年工程師約翰·雷尼設計完成的倫敦橋是歷座倫敦橋中不那么吸引人的一座。最引人注目的是中世紀的倫敦橋，它歷時600年，曾綴滿建筑和水輪。相比之下，倫敦人認為當時待拆的倫敦橋沉悶無趣，但在抵達美國后，路金將其作為一個永恒的里程碑。“倫敦橋不僅僅是一座橋，”他在紐約的新聞發布會上宣布。“它是2000年歷史的繼承者，可以追溯到公元1世紀，追溯到羅馬帝國時代。”這句話被很多媒體引用，作為新聞頭條進行報道。

這條新聞引起美國房地產開發商麥卡洛克的高度關注。

麥卡洛克曾在1963年買下哈瓦蘇湖城1.6萬英畝的土地開發權。他買下這塊地后建樓建廈，然后出售，但沒想到前來買房置業的人寥寥無幾。他想了很多辦法，招攬客戶來買他的房子，但收效甚微。這個地方比較荒蕪，少有人問津。

麥卡洛克突發奇想：如果把倫敦古橋搬到哈瓦蘇湖城，想必可以聚焦全世界的目光，這樣，這塊土地就會成為旅游勝地，哈瓦蘇湖城的房子就容易出售，地價也會飆升。

他立即行動起來，提交競拍申請，討論搬遷倫敦橋事宜。此時沒有競爭者，他以246萬美元的價格，順利地買下倫敦橋。

英國與美國相距遙遠，如何將這座大橋拆卸并裝載過去成了大問題。倫敦橋外層是由石頭組成的，為了保持古橋的原有風貌，麥卡洛克讓人把倫敦橋的構件逐一編號拆卸吊裝到巨輪上，乘巨輪到達加利福尼亞長灘，再用火車、汽車運往哈瓦蘇湖城，最后再按照約翰蘭尼設計的倫敦橋原圖在哈瓦蘇湖上重建此橋。

為了與這座橋的風格相配套，麥卡洛克請設計師在橋的周邊地區建造許多英式的住房、商場和教堂，與倫敦橋相呼應，成為一個濃縮的倫敦景觀。

大橋建成當天，吸引來自英國乃至世界各地的民眾，人們看到從倫敦運來的這座橋并沒有建在湖上，而是建在城市與哈瓦蘇湖中間的一個半島上，風景宜人，景色壯觀，游客絡繹不絕。

人們開始爭相購買這里的房子，房子銷售一空。此地的房地產隨之大大升值，周邊的民眾也因“古董橋”而富裕起來。

一座廢舊的古橋，搖身變為古董，不僅繁榮了一座城市，也將一段傳奇故事載入史冊。

（摘自《科技日報》2017年6月8日）

倫敦橋跨洋移居

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