What Was The Problem With The Millenium Bridge?

The Millennium Bridge in London is a pedestrian river crossing constructed over the Thames River in central London. The 330m long bridge is made of steel, concrete and aluminium. It lies between St. Paul's Cathedral in the City of London and the Tate Modern Gallery at Bankside.

When it opened, in June 2000, it swayed horrendously in tune to the hundreds of footsteps upon it. The problem is that when people walk in large groups they tend to fall into step together. It's something innate that humans do. And the bridge responded by swaying like a fairground ride.

After two days and many reports of seasickness, the bridge was closed down. For almost 2 years engineers studied the problem and how to dampen down the swaying effect of the now infamous bridge. Hundreds of volunteers helped test different possible solutions.

The bridge repopened in February 2002, it's wobbly tendancies now under control from weights, acting like shock absorbers, that were attached at strategic places around the bridge.

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