Jane Coston Cycle bridge: a model for managing vibration

The growing popularity of long-span slender footbridges, as key elements in schemes to encourage greater walking and cycling, has required design engineers to look much more closely at dynamic behaviour. Following high-profile problems with the London Millennium Bridge and Passerelle Solferino in Paris, designers of the 77 m span Jane Coston bridge in Cambridge studied dynamic effects of pedestrians particularly carefully. The study established the specific requirements for the structure and also a new general approach for future footbridge design. It suggests that slender footbridges can be designed for static loading, and that dynamic effects can be cost-effectively accommodated by making provision for possible damper installation after completion.