Description
The Millennium Bridge is a steel footbridge across the Thames in London, linking Bankside on the south bank with the City of London on the north. It is pedestrians only, 325 meters long, and so slim that it seems to float over the water.
Its two ends make it a favorite crossing. On the south side stand Tate Modern, Shakespeare's Globe and the Bankside Gallery; on the north, the City of London School, right under St Paul's Cathedral.
Don't miss the view from the south bank, by Tate Modern. The bridge is aligned so that the south front of St Paul's appears across the river, framed by the bridge's supports.
The design, by Arup, Foster + Partners and the sculptor Anthony Caro, was meant to be a "blade of light": a suspension bridge with its cables below the deck, so shallow that it barely interrupts the view. The aluminum deck is just four meters wide.
At the north end a short inclined lift, the Millennium Inclinator, is next to the bridge's end. Harry Potter fans know the bridge too: in the film of the Half-Blood Prince, Death Eaters send it crashing into the Thames.
The bridge opened on 10 June 2000, and two days later it was closed. That first day 90,000 people crossed, up to 2,000 at a time, and the new footbridge swayed so much under their feet that Londoners promptly named it the "Wobbly Bridge".
What went wrong? When a bridge sways sideways, walkers unconsciously fall into step with it, and every step makes the swaying worse. Soldiers have broken step on bridges for centuries, but this sideways version had not been foreseen by the designers.
The engineers tried stiffening the bridge, but that would have changed its look. The cure took almost two years and £5 million: 37 viscous dampers and 52 tuned mass dampers, fitted out of sight under the deck and at the piers.
It reopened on 22 February 2002 and has not swayed significantly since. The nickname stayed. Seven hundred Arup staff walked it in the final tests.
Its two ends make it a favorite crossing. On the south side stand Tate Modern, Shakespeare's Globe and the Bankside Gallery; on the north, the City of London School, right under St Paul's Cathedral.
Don't miss the view from the south bank, by Tate Modern. The bridge is aligned so that the south front of St Paul's appears across the river, framed by the bridge's supports.
The design, by Arup, Foster + Partners and the sculptor Anthony Caro, was meant to be a "blade of light": a suspension bridge with its cables below the deck, so shallow that it barely interrupts the view. The aluminum deck is just four meters wide.
At the north end a short inclined lift, the Millennium Inclinator, is next to the bridge's end. Harry Potter fans know the bridge too: in the film of the Half-Blood Prince, Death Eaters send it crashing into the Thames.
The bridge opened on 10 June 2000, and two days later it was closed. That first day 90,000 people crossed, up to 2,000 at a time, and the new footbridge swayed so much under their feet that Londoners promptly named it the "Wobbly Bridge".
What went wrong? When a bridge sways sideways, walkers unconsciously fall into step with it, and every step makes the swaying worse. Soldiers have broken step on bridges for centuries, but this sideways version had not been foreseen by the designers.
The engineers tried stiffening the bridge, but that would have changed its look. The cure took almost two years and £5 million: 37 viscous dampers and 52 tuned mass dampers, fitted out of sight under the deck and at the piers.
It reopened on 22 February 2002 and has not swayed significantly since. The nickname stayed. Seven hundred Arup staff walked it in the final tests.