Øresund bridge

, Denmark and Sweden

Year

2000

Duration

5 years

Cost

£2.3bn (£4bn today)

Location

Denmark and Sweden

Project 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 the Danish capital Copenhagen and the city of Malmö in 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.

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.

"Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”
LAURENCE PETER BBC Reporter

Øresund bridge

Roger Nickells from BuroHappold highlights the impact the magnificent cable stayed Øresund Bridge has had on the surrounding communities such as unifying Scandinavia and Europe. The entire crossing is staggering in scale; it's almost 8 kilometres in length and is 204 metres tall.

Did you know …

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.
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.
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 3.7m people. 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.

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 the world’s longest cable-stayed bridge 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 on-shore 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.