Brevik Bridge (in

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

''Breviksbrua'') is one of two bridges that span the mouth of the

Frierfjord Frierfjorden is a fjord in the Grenland traditional district in the county of Telemark, Norway. It is an arm of the Langesundsfjord and well into the 1700s was also known as the Langesundsfjord. Frierfjorden stretches from the opening to Lange ...

. It connects the municipalities of

Bamble Bamble is a municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Langesund. General information Name The Old Norse form of the name ...

and

Porsgrunn is a city and municipality in Telemark in the county of Vestfold og Telemark in Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Porsgrunn. The municipality of Porsgrunn was ...

Vestfold og Telemark Vestfold og Telemark (; ) is a county under disestablishment in Norway. The county is the southernmost one of Eastern Norway and consists of two distinct and separate traditional regions: the former counties of Telemark and (most of) Vestfold. T ...

county. On the west side, in Bamble, lies

Stathelle Stathelle is a town in Norway in the municipality of Bamble in the county of Telemark, Norway. History Stathelle was a former municipality in Telemark. It was separated from Bamble as a municipality of its own in 1851. In 1964, the municipalities ...

, while on the east side lies Brevik in Porsgrunn. When the bridge opened in May 1962, it was part of E18. In 1996, the nearby

Grenland Bridge Grenland Bridge (in Norwegian language, Norwegian ''Grenlandsbrua'') is Norway's highest cable-stayed bridge with a tower height of . The bridge, which opened in 1996, is on route European Route E18, E18. It crosses the Frierfjord, a fjord which ...

(in Norwegian ''Grenlandsbrua'') opened, taking over this role. Today, it is part of

national road The National Road (also known as the Cumberland Road) was the first major improved highway in the United States built by the Federal Government of the United States, federal government. Built between 1811 and 1837, the road connected the Pot ...

(in Norwegian ''riksvei, Rv'') 354.

Protection

In 1997, the

Norwegian Public Roads Administration The Norwegian Public Roads Administration ( no, Statens vegvesen) is a Norwegian government agency responsible for national and county public roads in Norway. This includes planning, construction and operation of the national and county road netw ...

and

Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage The Directorate for Cultural Heritage ( no, Riksantikvaren or ''Direktoratet for kulturminneforvaltning'') is a government agency responsible for the management of cultural heritage in Norway. Subordinate to the Norwegian Ministry of the Environm ...

were ordered to prepare a protection plan for state-owned roadworks in Norway. The final report published in 2002,

National Protection Plan for Roads, Bridges, and Road-Related Cultural Heritage The National Protection Plan for Roads, Bridges, and Road-Related Cultural Heritage ( no, Nasjonal verneplan for veger, bruer og vegrelaterte kulturminner) was published by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration in 2002 in the volume ''Vegvalg' ...

, recommended that both Brevik Bridge and Grenland Bridge be protected. On April 17, 2008, the Directorate for Cultural Heritage officially protected the bridges' "construction and details" in accordance with the Cultural Heritage Act.

2013 incident

On Saturday August 3, 2013, Linn Madelen Bråthen, age 33, was found dead on the shores of Sandøya. The

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

initially assumed the death was the result of a suicide jump from the Brevik Bridge. Several days later the police announced they had charged a police officer with providing

false testimony Perjury (also known as foreswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an inst ...

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly t ...

footage of the suspect together with Bråthen walking towards the bridge the night she died caused suspicion. The suspect was eventually charged with

first-degree murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the c ...

as the police thought he had pushed or thrown Bråthen off the bridge. Due to a lack of evidence the charge was changed to leaving Bråthen helpless, which lead to her death. In Lower Telemark district court, the suspect was found guilty and sentenced to 3 years in prison. In the

Agder court of appeal The Agder Court of Appeal ( no, Agder lagmannsrett) is one of six courts of appeal in the Kingdom of Norway. The Court is located in the town of Skien. The court has jurisdiction over the counties of Vestfold og Telemark and Agder (except for Si ...

he was still found guilty, but the prison time was reduced by 6 months. The suspect tried to get the case heard by the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

, but they rejected the case.

References

External links

* *
Breviks bridge on bridge-info.org
1962 establishments in Norway Bridges completed in 1962 Bridges in Vestfold og Telemark Buildings and structures in Porsgrunn Suspension bridges in Norway {{VestfoldTelemark-geo-stub