Our wobbly bridge

Thursday, December 18th, 2008

Back in 200o, we opened a new bridge across the River Thames in London, the first new bridge to cross the Thames in more than a century. It's a foot bridge and I rather like it. It was beautifully sited and lead you from the Tate Modern Gallery in a straight line across the river to a road leading up to St. Paul's Cathedral.

Needless to say, we fucked it as we did with Heathrow Terminal 5 and the Millennium Dome and as we shall surely do with the 2012 Olympics. Within 3 days of opening, it was shut and only opened 20 months later after £5 million had been spent on modifications. The damn thing only cost £18 miliion in the first place.

The problem, of course, was not the design but you and me. At the time, so theory went, we all walked across synchronously thereby inducing a terrific wobble that caused the bridge to sway, hence it's popular name.

Well today, after much research, a civil engineer has declared that the problem was not down to synchronous walking but it was more about the way we walked so you and me still get the blame. Seemingly, if the bloody bridge moves a little to one side (almost imperceptibly) we adjust our gait to compensate and this gives a little more energy to the bridge so it sways more. I'd think that was rather natural.

What puzzles me is that the guy says that the effect is widely known so why did the designers not compensate for that at the outset?

Maybe, we should test the modifications further like having a mom's egg & spoon race across it or even everyone hopping up and down. It doesn't really matter, we never learn.