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2000年这个世纪之交的时刻，除新建了伦敦东南的“千禧大棚”和市中心的“摩天转轮”之外，在泰晤士河的水面上也架起了一条耀眼的“银带”——千禧桥。比起那些古老、雄伟、茁壮、钢劲的的28位“前辈”来这位刚出生的“小妹妹”就以她简洁明快的结构、轻巧纤细的造型和连续流畅、充满活力的美感显得格外与众不同,被誉为“眨眼桥”。
千禧桥横跨英国伦敦的泰晤士河，全长333米，三跨浅悬索桥81m+144m+108m，连接了圣保罗大教堂，以及对岸的泰特现代艺术馆，可以同时让5千人使用。相关部门于1996年开始收集千禧桥的设计稿，最终收到约150份设计稿，并由盖茨亥德的居民投票选出最终方案。千禧桥于1999年落成，于2000年6月10日正式开放，但由于大桥出现摇摆及振动，千禧桥只开放了三天，当局便暂停使用，两年后重开。
The Millennium Bridge, officially known as the London Millennium Footbridge, is a steelsuspension bridge for pedestrians crossing the River Thames in London, England, linking Bankside with the City. It is located between Southwark Bridge and Blackfriars Railway Bridge. The bridge is owned and maintained by the Bridge House Estates, a charitable trust overseen by the City of London Corporation. Construction of the bridge began in 1998, with the opening on 10 June 2000.
Londoners nicknamed the bridge the "Wobbly Bridge" after participants in a charity walk on behalf ofSave the Children to open the bridge felt an unexpected and, for some, uncomfortable swaying motion on the first two days after the bridge opened. The bridge was closed later that day, and after two days of limited access the bridge was closed for almost two years while modifications were made to eliminate the wobble entirely. It was reopened in 2002.
The southern end of the bridge is near the Globe Theatre, the Bankside Gallery and Tate Modern, the north end next to the City of London School below St Paul’s Cathedral. The bridge alignment is such that a clear view of St Paul’s South façade is presented from across the river, framed by the bridge supports.
The design of the bridge was the subject of a competition organized in 1996 by Southwark council and RIBA Competitions. The winning entry was an innovative “blade of light”effort from Arup, Foster and Partners and Sir Anthony Caro. Due to height restrictions, and to improve the view, the bridge’s suspension design had the supporting cables below the deck level, giving a very shallow profile. The bridge has two river piers and is made of three main sections of 81 metres (266 ft), 144 metres (472 ft) and 108 metres (354 ft) (North to South) with a total structure length of 325 metres (1,066 ft); the aluminium deck is 4 metres (13 ft) wide. The eight suspension cables are tensioned to pull with a force of 2,000 tons against the piers set into each bank — enough to support a working load of 5,000 people on the bridge at one time.
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