Relic No. 007Catalogued
The Bridge That Walked
- Site
- Millennium Bridge, London
- Era
- Opened 2000. Reopened 2002.
- Material
- Steel, 325 metres of it
- Intended use
- A sleek footbridge for the new millennium
- Actual use
- A bridge that swayed in step with its walkers
- Status
- Open, with 89 dampers fitted
LONDON. Opened 10 June 2000, a month late. Some 90,000 people crossed on the first day. The bridge swayed. The walkers, feeling it sway, fell into step with it, and it swayed more.
Closed two days later. Reopened in February 2002, after £5 million of dampers on an £18.2 million bridge.
Engineers call it synchronous lateral excitation. Monk calls it a crowd.
The Way, it is written, moves in step with all things. The bridge did exactly that, and was closed for it.
Noted.
