The first pedestrian crossing of London’s Thames river in over one hundred years, the Millennium Bridge was conceived as part of the high-profile Millennium Project. Opened on the 10th of June 2000, it was closed again just three days later when it became apparent that the large numbers of people crossing it were causing the whole structure to sway nauseatingly…

The initially small natural vibrations of the bridge encouraged the pedestrians to walk in sync with the movement – which only served to amplify the effect. These vibrations began to occur when there were comparatively few people on the bridge, so by the time there were around 2,000 people on it at once, the wobbling had become pretty dramatic [Youtube link].

Lateral movement of this type in bridges was well known (most famously having caused the complete collapse [Youtube link] of the Tacoma Narrows bridge) – yet this driven harmonic motion caused by the movement of pedestrians remained unanticipated throughout the pre-construction analysis of the bridge.

The Millennium Bridge was closed from June 2000 until February 2002, and even though the problem has now been resolved, it will forever be known simply as The Wobbly Bridge.

More about the London’s Millennium Bridge, as ever, at Wikipedia.

Thanks to Rory and Tim.

In case you missed it, there was recently a spot of bother over the New Orleans images in Google Earth. Back in August 2005, just after Hurricane Katrina wrecked the city, Google updated Maps and Earth with images of the devastation.

Then, in September of 2006, the images were updated with higher-resolution shots of the city – images which were pre-Katrina. Nobody really noticed until the March 2007 image update, and suddenly everyone was up in arms over Google’s disrespect for those who suffered. In response Google provided new, high resolution, post-Katrina images of New Orleans.

Outside the newly updated area you can still see some of the devastation Katrina wrought here, like this derailed train, or these flattened houses just over the border in Mississippi.

Inside the updated area however, the images are very high quality, and the first thing that caught our eye was this fantastic shot of an F-15 fighter coming in to land at the New Orleans Naval Air Station.

We also wondered what was going on on the Bonne Carre Spillway Bridge?

Thanks: 2468Scotty and C.P. McDill.

Although in these images it remains unfinished, the most recent image updates have at least allowed us to see what is today, the tallest road bridge in the world – The Millau Viaduct.

Constructed by the Eiffage company (better known for the slightly shorter Eiffel Tower), the Millau Viaduct tops out at a whopping 343 metres, and the traffic travels a terrifying 270 metres above the bottom of the valley.¹

In these images you can clearly see the temporary towers erected to enable the positioning of the bridge deck (they show as orange in these images, but they were really red), which dates these images to around early 2004.

Hopefully Google will update this area of France soon, and we can see the viaduct in all her glory!

Thanks to Jan Fabry, Freddie, Alexander Apostolovski, Marc, Patryk and Nick Miners.

Welcome to the fourth in our irregular series “Keeping Up With The Joneses”, where we feature communities around the globe who are trying to to get one-up on their neighbours.

The requirement for social acceptance in this South Texan town is not (as in previous episodes) Tennis courts, Aircraft or Trampolines but instead your own personal pier.

Luckily for those who want to live in the area, but can’t afford their own sailboat, it would appear that having something to park at your personal pier is not a requirement; of all the 45 piers in the neighbourhood nobody’s moored so much as a rowboat!

Thanks: John

The story goes that when they were building the M62 motorway through northern England, one homeowner refused to sell his property, forcing the motorway to be split either side of his home. The story became ingrained in the history of the area, and John Shuttleworth even wrote a song about it.

Interesting I thought, and then in a spectacularly disappointing move, Wikipedia swiftly debunked this claim as myth. It seems that the owners, Ken and Beth Wild, have lived and worked here since 1971 (Ken is a sheep farmer), and the road actually forks around the farm to negotiate the hilly terrain.

Boo! Wikipedia, eater of time and destroyer of legend, curse you, and all who write for you! Here’s a BBC article about the couple with a video clip (and despite the sunny image Google provides, this looks like an absolutely miserable place to live).

Thanks to Nev Stokes and Cookie Monster.