Explainer: Why a bale of straw is hanging from the Millennium Bridge
Those wandering past the City’s Millennium Bridge during the next three weeks may spot an unusual site hanging from the famous ‘wobbly’ bridge… a bale of straw.
The bridge has closed for three weeks until November 5 to allow urgent repairs and cleaning.
City Bridge Foundation, a charity that looks after London’s major Thames crossings, said part of the structure had started to degrade and a layer of membrane needs to be replaced. They will also be cleaning the bridge during this time.
During these three weeks, it is likely the contractor will have to complete works beneath the river crossing, which in turn triggers an old by-law of London that a bale of straw must be hung to warn river traffic below.
According to the Port of London Thames Bylaws, 36.2: “When the headroom of an arch or span of a bridge is reduced from its usual limits, but that arch or span is not closed to navigation, the person in control of the bridge must suspend from the centre of that arch or span by day a bundle of straw large enough to be conspicuous and by night a white light.”
City Bridge Foundation told CityAM: “This is one of those quirky traditions London is famous for, but it also does serve a practical purpose, to warn shipping when the headroom under a bridge span is reduced.
“The bundle of straw is lowered by our contractor when they’re doing work under the bridge, in this case to install netting ahead of work to replace the separation layer between the aluminium bridge deck and the steel structure underneath.
“As a 900-year-old charity which maintains five Thames crossings and is London’s biggest independent charity funder, we’re proud of the part we’ve played in the history of London and our modern day role looking after some of the capital’s key transport infrastructure.”