Hardanger Bridge
Coordinates: 60°28′46″N 6°49′53″E / 60.47944°N 6.83139°E
Hardanger Bridge is a bridge under construction which will cross the Hardangerfjord in southwestern Norway. It will replace today's ferry connection, a part of the shortest road connection between Oslo and Bergen.
The bridge will be about 1380 metres long, with a main span of 1310 meters. It will be a suspension bridge, one of the longest spans in the world (no 7 in today's list, no 9 when completed, and no 1 in Norway). Sailingsheight is 55 meters and towers reach 186 meters.
The bridge will have two lanes and a width of 7,5 meter for the roadway, and a bike/walkpath. The traffic on the bridge is only estimated for 1850 vehicles per day in 2020 since it's located in a very sparsely populated area. Opening is scheduled for 2013.
Currently a ferry runs over the fjord every 20 - 60 minutes depending on the season, the ferry takes 10 minutes. The project will cost 1800 million kroner (around 200 million euro.) and over half of this will be paid by toll on the ferry and after completion on the bridge.
The national routes 7 and 13 crosses the fjord, route 7 is the shortest road between Norways largest cities Bergen and Oslo - but it's not prefered because of poor road condition and bad weather across 1300 meter high Hardangervidda plateau. Route 13 is a prefered inland north/south regional connection.
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The small difference between length and span is because the fjord quickly becomes very deep, and the towers must stand on shore. Also there are steep mountain walls. On both sides the road will enter tunnels directly from the bridge. The maximum water depth near the bridge is about 500 m, and the mountains surrounding the fjord are about 1200 m high.
The cost will be 1,8 billion Norwegian kroner, and construction start was in February 2009, and opening is planned 2013.
The engineering part of the project will be done by Statens Vegvesen, Veidirektoratet. The cable bands, tower saddles and splay saddles have been manufactured in the UK by Goodwin Steel Castings Ltd.
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