Friday, August 23, 2013
The Oresund Bridge is a double-track railway and dual carriage way bridge-tunnel across the Oresund strait between Scania (southern most Sweden) and Denmark. The bridge leads about 8 km (5 miles) from the Swedish coast to the artificial island of Peberholm, which can be found in the center of the strait. The remainder of the link is by a 4 km (2 .5 mile) tunnel from Peberholm to the Danish island of Amager. The Oresund Bridge is the longest joined road and rail bridge in Europe, and also connects two major metropolitan areas: Copenhagen, the Danish capital city, and the major Swedish city of Malmo. It connects the road and rail networks of Scandinavia with those of Central and Western Europe.
The building of the Oresund Bridge, which had been carried out by a joint venture of Hochtief, Skanska, Hojgaard & Schultz and Monberg & Thorsen, started in 1995, and was completed August 1999.
At 7 ,845 m ( 25 ,738 ft ) , the bridge covers half the distance between Sweden and the Danish island of Amager , the border between the two countries being 5 .3 km ( 3 .3 mi ) from the Swedish end . The structure has a mass of 82, 000 tonnes and supports two railway tracks beneath four road lanes in a horizontal girder extending along the entire length of the bridge. In both approaches to the three cable-stayed bridge sections, the girder is supported every 140 m (459 ft) by concrete piers. The two pairs of freestanding cable-supporting towers are 204 m (669 ft) high allowing shipping 57 m (187 ft) of headroom under the main span, but most ships' captains prefer to pass through the unobstructed Drogden Strait above the Drogden Tunnel. The 491 m (1, 611 ft) cable-stayed main span is possibly the longest of this type in the world. A girder and cable-stayed design was chosen to provide the specific rigidity necessary to carry heavy rail traffic, and also to resist large accumulations of ice.
Via: wikipedia.org
