Svinesund Bridge
Encyclopedia
Iddefjord
The Iddefjord runs along the Norwegian – Swedish border from the Singlefjord. The Iddefjord separates the Swedish province of Bohuslän in the county of Västra Götaland from the Norwegian municipality of Halden in the county of Østfold...
at Svinesund
Svinesund
Svinesund is a sound separating the Swedish municipality of Strömstad in the province of Bohuslän in the county of Västra Götaland from the Norwegian municipality of Halden in the county of Østfold....
, and joining 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....
and 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...
. Svinesund is a sound
Sound (geography)
In geography a sound or seaway is a large sea or ocean inlet larger than a bay, deeper than a bight and wider than a fjord; or it may be defined as a narrow sea or ocean channel between two bodies of land ....
separating the Swedish municipality of Strömstad
Strömstad
Strömstad is a locality and the seat of Strömstad Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 6,110 inhabitants in 2005.Strömstad is, despite its small population, for historical reasons normally still referred to as a city.- History :...
from the Norwegian municipality of Halden
Halden
is a both a town and a municipality in Østfold county, Norway. The seat of the municipality, Halden is a border town located at the Tista river delta on the Iddefjord, the southernmost border crossing between Norway and Sweden.-History:...
, and thus it is the border between Sweden and Norway in this region. The bridge is the westernmost border crossing (and one of the southernmost) between the two countries and carries the European route E6
European route E6
European route E 6 is the designation for the main north-south road in Norway, and the west coast of Sweden, running from the southern tip of Sweden, at Trelleborg, into Norway and through almost all of the country north to Finnmark. The route ends close to the Norwegian border with Russia...
which is a major traffic route in the area, connecting Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
and the rest of Norway with Gothenburg
Gothenburg
Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...
, Malmö
Malmö
Malmö , in the southernmost province of Scania, is the third most populous city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg.Malmö is the seat of Malmö Municipality and the capital of Skåne County...
, Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
and the rest of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
Description of the bridge
The New Svinesund Bridge is a highway bridge across the Iddefjord at Svinesund. The total cost of the project, including approach work, customs (this is an EU border) and toll plazasToll bridge
A toll bridge is a bridge over which traffic may pass upon payment of a toll, or fee.- History :The practice of collecting tolls on bridges probably harks back to the days of ferry crossings where people paid a fee to be ferried across stretches of water. As boats became impractical to carry large...
, and new interchanges for E6 (with the old bridge and old E6 becoming local routes) was SEK
Swedish krona
The krona has been the currency of Sweden since 1873. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it, but especially in the past, it sometimes preceded the value...
1,400 million. The project is a joint venture of the Swedish and Norwegian road authorities, and all costs are to be financed with tolls (some writings refer to them as "road tax") collected. Both bridges are tolled in both directions.
The total length of the bridge is 704 metres (2,310 ft) and consists of a substructure in ordinary reinforced concrete together with a steel box-girder superstructure. The main span of the bridge between abutments is approximately 247 metres (810 ft) and consists of a single ordinary reinforced concrete arch which carries two steel box-girder bridge decks, one on either side of the arch. The level of the top of the arch and the bridge deck are +91.7 metres (300.9 ft) and +61 metres (200.1 ft), respectively. Over the part of the bridge where the arch rises above the level of the bridge decking, the two bridge decks are joined by traverse beams positioned at 25.5 metres (83.7 ft) centres. The traverse beams are in turn supported by hangers to the concrete arch.
Construction notes
The bridge was constructed between 2003 and 2005 and was opened for traffic on June 13, 2005. Unusually for a two hinge concrete arch bridge, the arch was built using cantilever construction supported by temporary cable stays. The bridge was engineered by Bilfinger BergerBilfinger Berger
Bilfinger Berger is a large, internationally active construction and services company based in Mannheim, Germany.-History:Bilfinger Berger dates back to 1880 when August Bernatz founded an engineering business which became known, from 1886 as Bernatz & Grün and, from 1892, as Grün & Bilfinger.In...
, who also acted as general contractors.
The two halves of the arch were cast using similar climbing formwork, with concrete provided via a cable conveyor. The construction system had an hydraulic self climbing casting mould which was anchored to the
most recently completed arch segment, and segments were added at a rate of about 1 per week (illustration showing process). Each segment used about 60 cubic meters of k70 class concrete, and there were about 50 segments per side. The arch itself is hollow, and has been provided with heating coils to keep it free from ice and snow build up as well as navigation lights and interior maintenance pathways (info taken from this PDF at the joint bridge info site).
Once the arch was in place, the stays, temporary concrete stay towers and cable conveyors were removed, and the roadway segments added. Some were added in place, but the center roadway section under the arch was floated in on barges, as a complete section, and raised into place.
Old Svinesund Bridge
It was built during the war period 1939-1946. It was delayed because of the war and the fact that it was partly destroyed when lightning ignited explosives (1942), placed on the bridge as a defense measure.
External links
- Swedish Road Administration's project site
- PDF on engineering and construction from the above site
- PDF on topography and project profile from the above site
- Old and New Svinesund Bridge on en.broer.no
- Map at commercial site multimap.com, showing the old and new bridges (new shown as dotted, under construction) and rerouting of E6