A beautiful place so crowded during the day, the London Millennium Bridge during the early morning hours was finally deserted. You should see the view at least once when the city sleeps, and St. Paul’s Cathedral is still enlightened.
I have heard that the London Millennium footbridge is known by many locals as the “Wobbly Bridge” and I wondered why – especially as I did not feel any shaky movements (even while running to capture the sun rising over The Thames). Later, I read that on the first day when the bridge was opened, around 80,000 people entered it. Those who were in the middle and in the southern part experienced a sway and twist whilst on the bridge. Visitors then tried to adjust their steps to the movements of the bridge, but it only made the situation worse. There is a smart term for that phenomenon – Synchronous Lateral Excitation.
The architects felt that the bridge needed to be re-examined and so they closed the bridge the following day and then decided to install dampers to stabilize it.
The nickname “Wobbly Bridge” however, has not been forgotten ever since.
See my other blog post about how I captured London panorama at sunrise or full travel article about London.
