Strömbron - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Strömbron is a 140 metres long viaduct

Viaduct

A viaduct is a bridge composed of several small spans. The term viaduct is derived from the Latin via for road and ducere to lead something. However, the Ancient Romans did not use that term per se; it is a modern derivation from an analogy with aqueduct. Like the Roman aqueducts, many early...

in central Stockholm

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

, Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

. Stretching over Norrström

Stockholms ström

Stockholms ström, also known as Strömmen, in Stockholm is the innermost part of Saltsjön, a bay of the Baltic Sea. It continues into Lake Mälaren through Norrström.-See also:*Geography of Stockholm*Rivers of Sweden...

, it is connecting the old city Gamla stan

Gamla stan

Gamla stan , until 1980 officially Staden mellan broarna , is the old town of Stockholm, Sweden. Gamla stan consists primarily of the island Stadsholmen. The surrounding islets Riddarholmen, Helgeandsholmen, and Strömsborg are officially part of, but not colloquially included in, Gamla stan...

to the northern-central district Norrmalm, or, more specifically, to Blasieholmen near the park Kungsträdgården

Kungsträdgården

Kungsträdgården is a park in central Stockholm, Sweden. It is colloquially known as Kungsan.The park's central location and its outdoor cafés makes it one of the most popular hangouts and meeting places in Stockholm. It also hosts open-air concerts and events in summer, while offering an ice...

History

Though initially put forward by the influential city planner Albert Lindhagen

Albert Lindhagen

Klas Albert Lindhagen was a Swedish city planner, lawyer, and politician. He is mostly remembered for his city plans for Stockholm produced in the late 19th century.- Biography :...

(1823–1887) in 1866, a bridge on the current location was never included in any of his district-level city plans.
In 1874 however, the Building Society of Stockholm (Stockholms byggnadsförening) required permission to construct a toll-financed bridge stretching from the northern end of Skeppsbron

Skeppsbron

Skeppsbron is both a street and a quay in Gamla stan, the old town of Stockholm, capital of Sweden, stretching from the bridge Strömbron in front of the Royal Palace southward to Slussen....

to connect directly to Stallgatan, thus with a more eastern course than the present bridge. Though favourably disposed towards the proposal, the City Council made several demands, asking for the direction of the bridge to be changed, fixing its width to 58 feet (17,4 metres), settling the tariff to 2 öre

Öre

Öre is the discontinued centesimal subdivision of the Swedish krona. The plural and singular are the same in the indefinite forms, whereas the singular definite form is öret and the plural definite is örena. The name derives from the Latin aureus , the name of a coin worth 25 denarii...

for pedestrian and 5 for vehicles and horses, urging the construction to be finished within three years, while insisting the city should be able to buy in the bridge at any time. Having accepted the terms and changed the plans, the society finally failed to agree with the council on some minor details, and had the project cancelled within a year.

When a group of entrepreneurs in 1887 asked the council to grant them a concession for a bridge, the council did recognized the local traffic load at the time (3,700 vehicles per day) indicated a general need for a bridge, but reject the proposition arguing more time was needed.

Indeed later but less exacting, the Svea corps of engineers had a 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...

built in 9 hours on May 26, 1928 to be used while Norrbro

Norrbro

Norrbro is an arch bridge over Norrström in central Stockholm. It extends north from the northern front of the Stockholm Palace passing over Helgeandsholmen in front of the parliament building, Riksdagen, and from there over to Gustaf Adolfs torg...

, the bridge upstream still doing the drudgery, was being widened. With its more western direction the temporary bridge was aiming directly at the statue of Charles XII

Charles XII of Sweden

Charles XII also Carl of Sweden, , Latinized to Carolus Rex, Turkish: Demirbaş Şarl, also known as Charles the Habitué was the King of the Swedish Empire from 1697 to 1718...

in Kungsträdgården, in contrast to a coincident proposal to a new general plan promoting a bridge possible to extend over Blasieholmen and Nybroviken

Nybroviken

Nybroviken is a small bay in central Stockholm, Sweden.Nybroviken separates the city district Östermalm from the peninsula Blasieholmen. North of the bay is Berzelii Park and Norrmalmstorg. To the south Nybroviken connects to the bay Ladugårdslandsviken...

. When the work on Norrbro was completed in late August, the new bridge was removed and the wider roadways on the old finally permitted speeds exceeding 20 km/h.

In 1930 the traffic load on Norrbro had grown enough to motivate a contest for a traffic route from Skeppsbron to Nybroplan

Nybroplan

Nybroplan is a public space in central Stockholm, Sweden. Located on the border between the city districts Norrmalm and Östermalm, Nybroplan connects a number of major streets, including Birger Jarlsgatan, Strandvägen, Hamngatan, and Nybrogatan...

, necessarily including a bridge over the eastern part of Norrström. The contest resulted in a great number of proposals for both bridges and tunnels, of which none succeeded in making a lasting impression on a jury instead advocating further analyses. Before the end of WW2, more than a hundred proposals had been scrapped, and the lively debate between spokesmen for a bridge or for a tunnel had stuck on petty details and matter of principles.

The growing traffic didn't allow the question to be postponed for much longer and a provisional bridge was therefore proposed, not to be included in the city plan and with a permanency of no more than ten years. After the end of the war and a dramatic session, the City Council finally approved a bridge, 43 votes for and 39 against, and a 20 metres wide bridge was actually inaugurated autumn 1946. Malicious rumours had it that the bridge was named 'Strömbron', not because it traversed Strömmen, but because it was the child of con-bridge spokesman Fredrik Ström, and pro-bridge spokesman Torsten Åström. Other names suggested included Provisoriska bron ("The Provisional Bridge"), Provbron ("The Test Bridge"), Kungsträdgårdsbron, and Träbron ("The Wooden Bridge").

The bridge in question is a concrete slab laid on steel girders resting on concrete plinths founded on wooden poles. As stipulated by the con-bridge camp, the wooden poles were not allowed to be entirely submerged, to ensure the bridge wouldn't survive more than ten years. However, after ten years of continuous examination of the poles, the debate had abated and no signs of decay motivating a demolition could be found. So, instead, measures were taken to protect the bridge which is, , still offering its services as a provisional bridge.

In summer, people are usually lined up along the railing of the bridge fishing for salmon

Salmon

Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...

, trout

Trout

Trout is the name for a number of species of freshwater and saltwater fish belonging to the Salmoninae subfamily of the family Salmonidae. Salmon belong to the same family as trout. Most salmon species spend almost all their lives in salt water...

and some 30 other species swimming up the current. Thousands of fishes are planted out and caught annually in Stockholm.