Millennium Bridge

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Looking towards St Paul's Cathedral with comic vibration lines surrounding a caption 'The Wobbly Bridge'.

The Millennium Bridge, unsurprisingly opened on the millennium, crosses the River Thames in London. A steel suspension bridge, construction began in 1998. When opened in June 2000, it quickly earned the name ‘Wobbly Bridge’ by the locals after experiencing a worryingly high amount of swaying. One day later it was closed, and bar a few exceptions, the bridge didn’t reopen until two years after several modifications were made to the design.

Aerial view with the Thames and St Paul's Cathedral on the far bank.

Architecture

The Millennium Bridge was designed by Arup Group, Foster and Partners, and Sir Anthony Caro via participation in a bridge-building competition two years prior to construction began. The bridge is 325 metres long (1066 feet), 4 metres wide (13 feet) and designed to hold up to 5000 people at once. Given ‘Wobbly Bridge’s’ history, however, it is probably for the best not to test their claims. Interestingly, it was the first Thames bridge to be built in London in over 100 years. It cost £18.2 million to build, £2.2 million over budget.

Film & TV

One of the newer constructions in an old city, Millennium Bridge received a lot of attention in popular media. The bridge appears in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, where, not calming fears of the ‘Wobbly’ bridge, it collapses when attacked by death-eaters. Other inclusions in popular media include the Guardians of the Galaxy, Olly Murs music video Heart of My Sleeve, and One Direction’s Midnight Memories.

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