10 June: The Millennium Bridge

On this date in 2000 the Millennium Bridge, the footbridge across the River Thames opened.

1. Officially known as the London Millennium Footbridge, it is a steel suspension bridge for pedestrians crossing the River Thames in London. It is located between Southwark Bridge and Blackfriars Railway Bridge.
2. Its total length is 325 metres (1,066 ft) and its width is 4 metres (13 ft).
3. The Millennium Bridge was London’s first new Thames crossing in more than 100 years. There hadn't been any new bridges since Tower Bridge opened in 1894. This might be because bridges across the Thames usually require an Act of Parliament. For this bridge, the Port of London Authority granted a licence for the structure by obtaining planning permission from the City of London and London Borough of Southwark.
4. The design of the bridge was the subject of a competition organised in 1996 by Southwark council and RIBA Competitions. The winning entry was the "blade of light" effort from Arup Group, Foster and Partners, and Sir Anthony Caro. Due to height restrictions, and to improve the view, the bridge's suspension design had the supporting cables below deck level.
5. The view is pretty iconic. Pedestrians crossing the bridge get a great view of St Paul's Cathedral, Tower Bridge and The Shard.
6. On the day of opening, the bridge was crossed by 90,000 people, with up to 2,000 on the bridge at any one time.
7. It soon became apparent the designers hadn't realised the extent of the effect so many people walking over it would have. The tendency of a suspension bridge to sway when troops march over it in step was well known, and troops are required to break step when crossing such a bridge. Albert Bridge in London has a sign dating from 1873 warning marching ranks of soldiers to break step while crossing. What wasn't so well researched was the tendency of pedestrians not marching in time, to unconsciously fall into step in response to slight sways in the bridge - they all lose balance slightly and step to the side to regain it, all at the same time. 2,000 people doing this makes the sway worse, so they all have to regain their balance some more and this is what made the bridge wobble. Two days after it opened, it had to close for modifications.
8. The problem was solved by fitting 91 dampers to absorb lateral and vertical oscillations. The modifications took nearly as long as building the bridge in the first place. Construction began in 1998 and it opened in June 2000. It closed on 12th June 2000 and was reopened on 27th February 2002. The changes cost an extra £5m over the £18.2M building cost which was already £2.2M over budget.
9. On 18 January 2007, the bridge was temporarily closed due to strong winds and a risk of pedestrians being blown off the bridge.
10. The Millennium Bridge appeared in the sixth Harry Potter film. The bridge collapsed following an attack by Death Eaters.

More details about my books. Follow this link if you like Superheroes, Psychics and/or quirky short stories. 

I've listed the themes each novel touches on here for easy reference.

Like my author page on Facebook for news on new books and blog posts.

Follow me on Twitter and Pinterest

Check out my Writing blog