London's Millennium Bridge to close temporarily for urgent maintenance work
London's Millennium Bridge, dubbed the "wobbly bridge", is set to shut for three weeks for urgent maintenance work.
The bridge, which links St Paul's Cathedral with the Tate Modern across the River Thames, is not dangerous but a separation layer under the bridge deck has started to degrade and needs a deep clean, its owners said.
The structure is set to close on 14 October to enable the round-the-clock work to begin. Noise levels will be limited with no power tools being used between 9pm and 8am.
It will reopen on 5 November.
Pedestrians will be diverted to other routes that take them over Southwark Bridge and Blackfriars Bridge.
The chairman of City Bridge Foundation (CBF), the bridge's owners, said the structure is "starting to show its age".
Giles Shilson said: "The separation layer under the bridge deck has started to degrade, which means it's having an adverse effect on the bridge deck and needs addressing urgently.
"Replacing this layer is a time-consuming process, meaning we have no option but to close the bridge for three weeks and to work round the clock to get it done as quickly as possible.
"We're sorry for any inconvenience but hope people will understand we do need to do this work, and will see the benefits after we give the bridge a much-needed deep clean that will leave it looking as good as new."
The bridge was opened in 2000 to mark the new millennium at a cost of £18.2m - around £33m today according to the Bank of England's inflation calculator.
The structure was nicknamed the wobbly bridge as it swayed under the weight of thousands of pedestrians when it first opened.
It was forced to close days after opening and reopened almost two years later following remedial works.
The bridge was featured in the 2009 film Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, in which it collapsed into the Thames after an attack.
It also appears in a battle scene in the 2014 Marvel film Guardians of the Galaxy.
It was the capital's first dedicated pedestrian bridge and the first new river crossing built in central London for more than 100 years, since Tower Bridge in 1894.
