Oresund Bridge

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Oresund Bridge Øresundsbroen, Öresundsbron

Carries	4 lanes of European route E20 2 SJ/DSB rail lines
Crosses	Oresund strait (The Sound)
Locale	Copenhagen, Denmark and Malmö, Sweden
Design	Cable-stayed bridge
Longest span	490 metres (1,608 ft)
Total length	7,845 metres (25,738 ft)
Width	23.5 metres (77.1 ft)
Clearance below	57 metres (187 ft)
AADT	13,602
Opening date	July 2, 2000
Toll	€ 32
Coordinates	55°34′31″N, 12°49′37″E

Satellite image of the Oresund Bridge.

View from Malmö

View from Öresund

The Oresund Bridge (Danish Øresundsbroen, Swedish Öresundsbron, joint hybrid name Øresundsbron) is a combined two-track rail and four-lane road bridge across the Oresund strait. The bridge-tunnel is the longest combined road and rail bridge in Europe and connects the two metropolitan areas of the Oresund Region: the Danish capital of Copenhagen and the Swedish city of Malmö. The international European route E20 runs across the bridge.

1 Name
2 History
3 Features
4 Rail transport
5 Costs
6 Toll charge
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] Name

In Sweden and Denmark the bridge is most often referred to as Öresundsbron or Øresundsbroen, respectively. The bridge company itself insists on Øresundsbron, a compromise between the two languages which would symbolise a common cultural identity of the region, the people becoming 'Oresund citizens' once the bridge was established. Since it is actually a bridge and a tunnel, it is sometimes more technically correct named the Oresund Link or Oresund Connection (Danish: Øresundsforbindelsen, Swedish: Öresundsförbindelsen). The Sound Bridge is occasionally heard, using the traditional English name of the strait.

[edit] History

Construction began in 1995. The last section was constructed on August 14, 1999. Danish Heir Apparent Frederik and his Swedish counterpart Crown Princess Victoria met midway to celebrate its completion. The official inauguration took place on July 1, 2000, with Danish Queen Margrethe II, and her Swedish counterpart King Carl XVI Gustaf, presiding. The bridge was opened for traffic later that day. Before the inauguration 79,871 runners competed in a half distance marathon (Broloppet, the Bridge Run) from Amager (in Denmark) to Skåne (in Sweden) on June 12, 2000.

Initially the usage of the bridge was not as high as expected, which was generally attributed to the expense of crossing. 2005 and 2006, however, have seen 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 their work in Denmark, because the price of housing in Malmö is lower than in Copenhagen. As of 2006 a single car ride across the bridge costs DKK 235, SEK 290 or € 32 (however, discounts of up to 75% are available for regular users). In 2004 almost 17 million people travelled over the bridge, 10.6 million in cars and 6.2 million by train.

[edit] Features

The bridge has one of the longest cable-stayed main spans in the world at 490 metres (1,608 ft). The height of the highest pillar is 204 metres (669 ft). The total length of the bridge is 7,845 metres (25,738 ft), which is approximately half the distance between the Swedish and Danish landmasses, and its weight is 82 million kilograms. The rest of the distance is spanned by the artificial island Peberholm (Pepper islet) (4,055 m), named as a counterpart to the already existing Saltholm islet, followed by a tunnel on the Danish side. The tunnel is 4,050 metres (13,287 ft) long, a 3,510 metre long buried undersea tunnel plus two-270 metre gate tunnels. The two rail-tracks are beneath the four road lanes. The bridge has a vertical clearance of 57 metres (187 ft), although most boat traffic across Oresund still passes over the Drogden strait (where the tunnel lies). The bridge was designed by Arup.

[edit] Rail transport

The public transport by rail is operated jointly by the Swedish SJ and the Danish DSB. A series of new dual-voltage trains were developed which link the Copenhagen area with Malmö and Southern Sweden as far as Gothenburg and Kalmar on selected departures. Copenhagen Airport at Kastrup is served by its own train station close to the western bridgehead. Across the bridge trains run in a 20 minute pattern, and once an hour during night.

[edit] Costs

The cost for the entire Øresund connection construction, including motorway and railway connections on land, was calculated to 30.1 billion DKK (€ 4.03 billion) according to the 2000 year priceindex. The cost of the bridge is expected to be paid back by 2035. Sweden has started spending 1.0 billion € more, on the City Tunnel, Malmö (2006-2012) as a new rail connection to the bridge.

[edit] Toll charge

As of 2007, the toll for driving the fixed link is as follows:

Vehicle	One ride	Daily commuting
Motorcycle	18 EUR	8 EUR
Standard car	34 EUR	18 EUR
Motorhome/Car+Caravan	68 EUR	36 EUR
Entire tourist bus	116.8 EUR	—
Bus ticket	70 SEK	1300 SEK/40 crossings
Train ticket	90 SEK	1730 SEK/month