The Øresund or Öresund Bridge (Danish: Øresundsbroen, Swedish: Öresundsbron, joint hybrid name: Øresundsbron) is a combined two-track rail and four-lane road bridge-tunnel across the Öresund strait. It is the longest combined road and rail bridge in Europe and connects the two metropolitan areas of the Öresund Region: the Danish capital of Copenhagen and the Swedish city of Malmö. The international European route E20 runs across the bridge and through the tunnel via the two lane motorway, as does the Öresund Railway Line. The bridge is the longest border crossing bridge in the world, but due to the Schengen Agreement, there are no passport controls. The bridge was designed by Arup.

History

Construction began in 1995. The last section was constructed on 14 August 1999. The official inauguration took place on 1 July 2000, with Queen Margrethe II, and King Carl XVI Gustaf, presiding. The bridge was opened for traffic later that day.

Initially the usage of the bridge was not as high as expected, which was generally attributed to the expense of crossing. However, 2005 and 2006 saw a rapid increase in the volume of traffic on the bridge. This phenomenon may be due to Danes buying homes in Sweden and commuting to work in Denmark, because the price of housing in Malmö is lower than in Copenhagen. In 2008, a single car ride across the bridge cost DKK 260, SEK 325 or €36 (however, discounts of up to 75% are available for regular users). In 2007, almost 25 million people traveled over the bridge, 15.2 million in cars and buses and 9.6 million by train.

Features

The bridge has one of the longest cable-stayed main spans in the world at 490 meter (1,608 ft). The height of the highest pillar is 204 meter (669 ft). The total length of the bridge is 7,845 meter (25,738 ft), which is approximately half the distance between the Swedish and Danish landmasses, and its weight is 82,000 tonnes. The border is located 2.5 km (1.6 mi) from the western end and 5.3 km (3.3 mi) from the eastern end of the bridge. On the bridge, the two rail-tracks are beneath the four road lanes. The bridge has a vertical clearance of 57 meter (187 ft), although most boat traffic across Oresund still passes over the Drogden strait (where the tunnel lies).

Peberholm, artificial island

The bridge has one of the longest cable-stayed main spans in the world at 490 meter (1,608 ft). The height of the highest pillar is 204 meter (669 ft). The total length of the bridge is 7,845 meter (25,738 ft), which is approximately half the distance between the Swedish and Danish landmasses, and its weight is 82,000 tonnes. The border is located 2.5 km (1.6 mi) from the western end and 5.3 km (3.3 mi) from the eastern end of the bridge. On the bridge, the two rail-tracks are beneath the four road lanes. The bridge has a vertical clearance of 57 meter (187 ft), although most boat traffic across Oresund still passes over the Drogden strait (where the tunnel lies).

The bridge ends in the middle of Øresund, on an artificial island, called Peberholm. The island is more than 4 km long and a few hundred meter wide, belongs to Denmark and is now an unpopulated natural reserve.

The Drogden Tunnel

The connection between Peberholm and the nearest populated part of Denmark is through a tunnel, called the Drogden Tunnel (Drogdentunnelen). The tunnel is 4,050 meter (13,287 ft) long, a 3,510-meter (11,500 ft) long buried undersea tunnel plus two 270-meter (890 ft) entry-tunnels. The reason for building a tunnel instead of another section of bridge is that the Copenhagen Airport is nearby.’

Further information: www.wikipedia.org.