Krifast - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Kristiansund Mainland Connection ( or abbreviated Krifast) is a road system on the highways and that connects the municipality of Kristiansund

Kristiansund

Kristiansund is a city and municipality on the western coast of Norway, in the Nordmøre district of Møre og Romsdal county. It was officially awarded township status in 1742, and it is still the major town for the region. The administrative center of the municipality is the city of Kristiansund...

to the islands of Frei

Frei

Frei is a village, island, and former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the present-day municipality of Kristiansund between the Kvernesfjord and Freifjord...

, Bergsøya

Bergsøya

Bergsøya is an island in the municipality of Gjemnes in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The island is located near the junctions of the Freifjorden, Kvernesfjord, and Tingvollfjorden. The highest point on the island is the tall mountain Varden....

, and Aspøya

Aspøya

Aspøya is an island in the municipality of Tingvoll in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located between the Freifjorden and the Tingvollfjorden. The highway crosses Aspøya and connects it to the nearby island of Bergsøya to the west by the Bergsøysund Bridge–part of the Krifast...

to mainland Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

. Krifast opened in 1992 and consists of 25 kilometres (15.5 mi) of road and 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) of bicycle paths. The three main structures are the undersea

Undersea tunnel

An undersea tunnel is a tunnel which is partly or wholly constructed under a body of water. They are often used where building a bridge or operating a ferry link is impossible, or to provide competition for existing bridges or ferry links...

Freifjord Tunnel

The Freifjord Tunnel is a long undersea tunnel under the Freifjorden in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The tunnel begins on the island of Frei in the municipality of Kristiansund and then descends below the Freifjorden and ends on the island of Bergsøya in the municipality of Gjemnes...

, the Gjemnessund Bridge

Gjemnessund Bridge

The Gjemnessund Bridge is a suspension bridge that crosses the Gjemnessundet strait between the mainland and the island of Bergsøya in the municipality of Gjemnes in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The long bridge is the longest suspension bridge in Norway, although it does not have the longest...

, and the Bergsøysund Bridge

Bergsøysund Bridge

Bergsøysund Bridge is a pontoon bridge that crosses the Bergsøysundet strait between the islands of Aspøya and Bergsøya in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The bridge is long, the longest span is , and the maximum clearance to the sea is . The bridge has 13 spans.Bergsøysund Bridge was opened in...

.

A total of seven bridges are part of the Krifast system, the most famous one being the suspension bridge

Suspension bridge

A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck is hung below suspension cables on vertical suspenders. Outside Tibet and Bhutan, where the first examples of this type of bridge were built in the 15th century, this type of bridge dates from the early 19th century...

Gjemnessund Bridge

from the island of Bergsøya

Bergsøya

to the mainland of Gjemnes

Gjemnes

Gjemnes is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway on the Romsdal peninsula. It is part of the Nordmøre region. The administrative centre is Batnfjordsøra, which lies along the Batnfjorden and is a former steamship landing place...

, with 108 metres (354.3 ft) high towers and a span between them of 623 metres (2,044 ft). There is also the 933 metres (3,061 ft) long pontoon bridge

Pontoon bridge

A pontoon bridge or floating bridge is a bridge that floats on water and in which barge- or boat-like pontoons support the bridge deck and its dynamic loads. While pontoon bridges are usually temporary structures, some are used for long periods of time...

called the Bergsøysund Bridge

Bergsøysund Bridge

which goes from Bergsøya

Bergsøya

to Aspøya

Aspøya

, which is the only bridge of its kind where nothing but the ends are anchored to solid rock. The bridge is supported by 7 pontoons, floating on a 320 metres (1,049.9 ft) deep fjord

Fjord

Geologically, a fjord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created in a valley carved by glacial activity.-Formation:A fjord is formed when a glacier cuts a U-shaped valley by abrasion of the surrounding bedrock. Glacial melting is accompanied by rebound of Earth's crust as the ice...

.

The 5.1 kilometres (3.2 mi) long underwater Freifjord Tunnel

Freifjord Tunnel

goes under the Freifjorden. It is 134 metres (439.6 ft) below sea level at its deepest, though the bottom 35 metres (114.8 ft) is in solid rock. A drive through the tunnel takes about 5 minutes. Because of the relatively steep climb, there are three lanes at each end, but only two at the bottom.

Krifast was authorized by the Norwegian Parliament and construction began in October 1988. The government pledged to finance 39% of the expenses, the rest were to be taken in as toll

Toll road

A toll road is a privately or publicly built road for which a driver pays a toll for use. Structures for which tolls are charged include toll bridges and toll tunnels. Non-toll roads are financed using other sources of revenue, most typically fuel tax or general tax funds...

on road traffic and car ferry fares (on the ferries to be discontinued due to the new tunnel and bridges). As of July 1991, the project employed 427 people, and spent daily on construction. Four years and NOK 1.1 billion later, in August 1992, Krifast was opened for regular traffic.

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