Year
2000Duration
5 yearsCost
£2.3bn (£4.8bn today)Location
Denmark and SwedenProject achievements
Economy boosted
Build a bridge and underwater tube tunnel
Solved the problem
Connected two major cities, Copenhagen and Malmö
Used engineering skill
Bridge helped create a large trading region between Sweden and Denmark
Build a crossing to connect Denmark and Sweden
The Øresund bridge is part of the Øresund fixed link - a bridge and tube tunnel route connecting the Danish capital Copenhagen with the city of Malmö in Sweden. It crosses the Øresund Strait, or the Sound.
The link is made up of an 8km-long bridge, a 4km underwater tube tunnel and 4km of a reclaimed island in Danish waters called Peberholm. The bridge part of the link is the longest rail and road bridge in Europe.
The bridge carries rail and road traffic on a dual-track railway and a four-lane highway. Project designers chose a tunnel for part of the crossing amid concerns that a bridge in that part of the strait could interfere with radio signals from nearby Copenhagen Airport.
Other reasons for a tunnel included providing a clear channel for shipping in all weathers and the need to prevent ice floes from blocking the strait.
One of Scandinavia’s largest ever investments in infrastructure, the link is jointly owned by Sweden and Denmark.
The crossing opened on 1 July 2000, with a ceremony hosted by Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.
Get the details
Learn more about the construction of the Øresund tunnel in the Civil Engineering Journal.
Did you know …
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The Øresund bridge was the setting for the Swedish/Danish TV crime drama ‘The Bridge’. The first series begins with the discovery of a dead body on the bridge, placed exactly on the border between the two countries.
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The bridge was used as a symbol for the connection between Sweden and the rest of Europe at the 58th Eurovision Song Contest in 2013. The competition was held in Malmö.
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The underwater parts of the bridge have become covered in marine organisms and now act as an artificial reef
Difference the project has made
The Øresund bridge and fixed link have connected two major metropolitan areas – Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, and the Swedish city of Malmö.
The bridge is credited with helping to create a trading region of 4.2m people, known as the Øresund Region. It consists of the Zealand and Skåne regions, as well as the capital region of Denmark.
It’s certainly made it easier for goods and people to move between Sweden and Denmark – a one-hour ferry trip was replaced by a 10-minute high-speed rail journey. In 2024, approximately 7.6m vehicle travelled across the bridge.
The bridge carries a data cable as well as road and rail traffic. The cable is viewed as one of the most important routes for data transmission between central Europe and both Sweden and Finland.
How the work was done
The 8km-long bridge section of the Øresund fixed link is one of the longest cable-stayed bridges for combined road and high-speed rail traffic.
The bridge crosses the shipping channel of the Øresund Strait in a 490m-long curving span. Engineers designed the bridge with two side spans of 160m and 141m – one on each side of the main span.
The project team used a composite of steel and concrete for the bridge’s main supporting girder. The concrete top deck of the bridge carries road traffic. The lower deck carries two railway lines.
Each of the bridge’s concrete pylons are 203.5m high and founded on limestone.
Most of the components of the bridge – such as the caissons and piers – were prefabricated onshore and then floated out to the construction site for assembly.
A caisson is a watertight structure used to help construct parts of a bridge. Floated into place and lowered to the seabed, they provide engineers with a dry environment to work in. A pier is an upright structure that helps support a bridge.
Engineers built artificial islands around and near the bridge to protect against ships hitting the structure.
Project milestones
Denmark and Sweden sign an agreement to build the Øresund fixed link
Construction begins on the land facilities in Denmark
Construction starts on the coast-to-coast link
The 9km motorway to Copenhagen Airport opens
Danish land connections to the bridge are completed with the inauguration of the 18km Øresund Line railway
The tunnel is completed and the first car drives through it
The final span of the bridge is put in place
King Carl Gustaf of Sweden and Queen Margrethe of Denmark officially open the bridge on 1 July
People who made it happen
- Designers: joint venture between VBB of Sweden and Danish engineering firm COWI
- Consultant engineers: Ove Arup
