Millennium Bridge, London people walking caused small sideways oscillations in the bridge, which in turn caused people on the bridge to sway in step, increasing the amplitude of the bridge oscillations and continually reinforcing the effect. On the day of opening, the bridge was crossed by 90,000 people, with up to 2,000 on the bridge at any one time. Resonant vibrational modes due to vertical loads (such as trains, traffic, pedestrians) and wind loads are well understood in bridge design. In the case of the Millennium Bridge, because the lateral motion caused the pedestrians loading the bridge to directly participate with the bridge,
Richmond Bridge, London so the stone was laid by commission member Henry Hobart. The bridge opened to pedestrians in September 1776 and to other traffic on 12 January 1777, at which time the ferry service was closed, although work on the bridge was not completed until December 1777. A large milestone was placed at the Richmond end, giving the distances to other bridges and to local towns. There was no formal opening ceremony, and little initial recorded public reaction. However, the bridge soon became much admired for its design; an article in "The London Magazine" in 1779 said that the bridge was "a