The Great Belt Bridge ( da, Storebæltsbroen) or Great Belt fixed link ( da, Storebæltsforbindelsen) is a multi-element

fixed link A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually someth ...

crossing the

Great Belt The Great Belt ( da, Storebælt, ) is a strait between the major islands of Zealand (''Sjælland'') and Funen (''Fyn'') in Denmark. It is one of the three Danish Straits. Effectively dividing Denmark in two, the Belt was served by the Great B ...

strait between the Danish islands of

Zealand Zealand ( da, Sjælland ) at 7,031 km2 is the largest and most populous island in Denmark proper (thus excluding Greenland and Disko Island, which are larger in size). Zealand had a population of 2,319,705 on 1 January 2020. It is the 1 ...

and

Funen Funen ( da, Fyn, ), with an area of , is the third-largest island of Denmark, after Zealand and Vendsyssel-Thy. It is the 165th-largest island in the world. It is located in the central part of the country and has a population of 469,947 as o ...

. It consists of a road

suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck is hung below suspension cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridges, which lack vertical ...

and a railway tunnel between Zealand and the small island Sprogø in the middle of the Great Belt, and a

box-girder bridge A box girder bridge, or box section bridge, is a bridge in which the main beams comprise girders in the shape of a hollow box. The box girder normally comprises prestressed concrete, structural steel, or a composite of steel and rei ...

for both road and rail traffic between Sprogø and Funen. The total length is . The term ''Great Belt Bridge'' commonly refers to the suspension bridge, although it may also be used to mean the box-girder bridge or the link in its entirety. Officially named the East Bridge, the suspension bridge was designed by the Danish firms COWI and

Ramboll Rambøll Group A/S (also known as just "Ramboll") is a Danish consulting engineering group. History Rambøll was founded in October 1945 as "Rambøll & Hannemann" in Copenhagen. In 1991 the company merged with "B. Højlund Rasmussen A/S" int ...

, and the architecture firm

Dissing+Weitling Dissing may refer to: * Diss (music), song primarily intended to disrespect people * Dissing+Weitling, architecture and design practice in Copenhagen, Denmark *Heino Dissing (1912–1990), Danish cyclist *Henry Dissing (1931–2009), Danish mycolo ...

. It has the world's sixth- longest main span (). At the time of the opening of the bridge it was the second longest, beaten by the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge opened a few months previously. The link replaced the

Great Belt ferries The Great Belt ferries ( da, Storebæltsfærgerne) were the train and car ferries operating across the Denmark, Danish strait of Great Belt, between the islands of Zealand (Denmark), Zealand and Funen. The railway ferry link was established in 1883 ...

service, which had been the primary means of crossing the Great Belt. After more than 50 years of debate, the Danish government decided in 1986 to construct a link; it opened to rail traffic in 1997 and to road traffic in 1998. At an estimated cost of DKK 21.4 billion ( EUR 2.8 billion) (1988 prices), the link is the largest construction project in Danish history. It has reduced travel times significantly; previously taking one hour by ferry, the Great Belt can now be crossed in ten minutes. This link, together with the

Øresund Bridge The Öresund or Øresund Bridge ( da, Øresundsbroen ; sv, Öresundsbron ; hybrid name: ) is a combined railway and motorway bridge across the Øresund strait between Denmark and Sweden. It is the longest in Europe with both roadway and rai ...

(built 1995–1999) and the Little Belt Bridge, have together enabled driving from mainland Europe to Sweden through Denmark. Operation and maintenance are performed by ''A/S Storebælt'' under ''Sund & Bælt''. Construction and maintenance are financed by tolls on vehicles and trains. Cyclists are not permitted to use the bridge, but bicycles may be transported by train or bus.

History

The

entered service between the coastal towns of Korsør and

Nyborg Nyborg is a city in central Denmark, located in Nyborg Municipality on the island of Funen and with a population of 17,525 (2022). It is the easternmost settlement on Funen. By road, it is located 34 km east of Odense, 35 km north of ...

in 1883, connecting the railway lines on either side of the Belt. In 1957, road traffic was moved to the Halsskov–Knudshoved route, about 1.5 kilometres to the north and close to the fixed link. Construction drafts for a fixed link were presented as early as the 1850s, with several suggestions appearing in the following decades. The

Danish State Railways DSB, an abbreviation of ''Danske Statsbaner'' (, ''Danish State Railways''), is the largest Danish train operating company, and the largest in Scandinavia. While DSB is responsible for passenger train operation on most of the Danish railways, go ...

, responsible for the ferry service, presented plans for a bridge in 1934. The concepts of bridges over Øresund (152 million DKK) and Storebælt (257 million DKK) were calculated around 1936. In 1948, the Ministry for Public Works (now the

Ministry of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government ...

) established a commission to investigate the implications of a fixed link. The first law concerning a fixed link was enacted in 1973, but the project was put on hold in 1978 as the Venstre (Liberal) party demanded postponing public spending. Political agreement to restart work was reached in 1986, with a construction law ( da, anlægslov) being passed in 1987. The design was carried out by the engineering firms COWI and

together with

architecture practice. Construction of the link commenced in 1988. In 1991, Finland sued Denmark at the

International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; french: Cour internationale de justice, links=no; ), sometimes known as the World Court, is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN). It settles disputes between states in accordan ...

, on the grounds that Finnish-built mobile offshore drilling units would be unable to pass beneath the bridge. The two countries negotiated a financial compensation of 90 million Danish kroner, and Finland withdrew the lawsuit in 1992. The link is estimated to have created a value of 379 billion DKK after 50 years of use. In 2022, the bridge was crossed as part of the route of Stage 2 of the 2022 Tour de France.

Construction

The construction of the fixed link became the biggest building project in the history of Denmark. In order to connect Halsskov on

with Knudshoved on

, to its west, a two-track railway and a four-lane motorway had to be built, via the small island of Sprogø in the middle of the Great Belt. The project comprised three different tasks: the East Bridge for road transport, the East Tunnel for rail transport and the West Bridge for road and rail transport combined. The construction work was carried out by Sundlink Contractors, a consortium of

Skanska Skanska AB () is a multinational construction and development company based in Sweden. Skanska is the fifth-largest construction company in the world according to ''Construction Global'' magazine. Notable Skanska projects include renovation of t ...

Hochtief Hochtief AG is a German construction company based in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.Højgaard & Schultz (which built the West Bridge) and

Monberg & Thorsen Monberg is a surname. List of people with the surname * Børge Monberg (1905–1990), Danish field hockey player * Jesper B. Monberg (born 1977), Danish speedway rider * Michael Monberg (born 1978), Danish politician * Terese Guinsatao Monber ...

(which built the section under the Great Belt). The work of lifting and placing the elements was carried out by

Ballast Nedam Ballast Nedam is a Dutch-based construction and engineering company headquartered in Nieuwegein. The company resulted from a merger between Amsterdamse Ballast Maatschappij and Nederlandse Aannemingsmaatschappij. History As the name might sug ...

using a floating crane.

East Bridge

Built between 1991 and 1998 at a cost of US$950 million, the East Bridge (''Østbroen'') is a

between Halsskov and Sprogø. It is long with a free span of ,. The Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge was opened two months earlier. The East Bridge had been planned to be completed in time to be the longest bridge, but it was delayed. The vertical clearance for ships is , meaning the world's largest cruise ship, an ''Oasis''-class cruise ship, just fits under with its smokestack folded. At above sea level, the two pylons of the East Bridge are the highest points on self-supporting structures in Denmark. Some radio masts, such as Tommerup transmitter, are taller. To keep the main cables tensioned, an anchorage structure on each side of the span is placed below the road deck. After 15 years, the cables have no

rust Rust is an iron oxide, a usually reddish-brown oxide formed by the reaction of iron and oxygen in the catalytic presence of water or air moisture. Rust consists of hydrous iron(III) oxides (Fe2O3·nH2O) and iron(III) oxide-hydroxide (FeO( ...

. They were scheduled for a 15 million DKK paint job, but due to corroding cables on other bridges, the decision was made to instead install a 70 million DKK sealed de-humidifying system in the cables. This was carried out by UK engineering firm

Spencer Group Spencer may refer to: People * Spencer (surname) **Spencer family, British aristocratic family ** List of people with surname Spencer * Spencer (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) Places Australia *Spencer, New ...

, with help from Danish subcontractors Davai who provided the manpower, and Belvent A/S who provided the dehumidification system. Nineteen concrete pillars (12 on the Zealand side, seven by Sprogø), apart, carry the road deck outside the span.

West Bridge

The West Bridge (''Vestbroen'') is a

box girder bridge A box girder bridge, or box section bridge, is a bridge in which the main beams comprise girders in the shape of a hollow box. The box girder normally comprises prestressed concrete, structural steel, or a composite of steel and ...

between Sprogø and Knudshoved. It is long, and has a vertical clearance for ships of . It is actually two separate, adjacent bridges: the northern one carries rail traffic and the southern one road traffic. The pillars of the two bridges rest on common foundations below sea level. The West Bridge was built between 1988 and 1994; its road/rail deck comprises 63 sections, supported by 62 pillars.

East Tunnel

The twin bored tunnel tubes of the East Tunnel (''Østtunnelen'') are each long. There are 31 connecting tunnels between the two main tunnels, at intervals. The equipment that is necessary for train operation in the tunnels is installed in the connecting tunnels, which also serve as emergency escape routes. There were delays and cost overruns in the tunnel construction. The plan was to open it in 1993, giving the trains a head start of three years over road traffic, but train traffic started in 1997 and road traffic in 1998. During construction the sea bed gave way and one of the tunnels was flooded. The water continued to rise and reached the end at Sprogø, where it continued into the (still dry) other tunnel. The water damaged two of the four

tunnel boring machine A tunnel boring machine (TBM), also known as a "mole", is a machine used to excavate tunnels with a circular cross section through a variety of soil and rock strata. They may also be used for microtunneling. They can be designed to bore thro ...

s, but no workers were injured. Only by placing a clay blanket on the sea bed was it possible to dry out the tunnels. The two damaged machines were repaired and the majority of the tunnelling was undertaken from the Sprogø side. The machines on the Zealand side tunnelled through difficult ground and made little progress. A major fire on one of the Zealand machines in June 1994 stopped these drives and the tunnels were completed by the two Sprogø machines. A total of 320

compressed air Compressed air is air kept under a pressure that is greater than atmospheric pressure. Compressed air is an important medium for transfer of energy in industrial processes, and is used for power tools such as air hammers, drills, wrenches, an ...

workers were involved in 9,018 pressure exposures in the four tunnel-boring machines. The project had a

decompression sickness Decompression sickness (abbreviated DCS; also called divers' disease, the bends, aerobullosis, and caisson disease) is a medical condition caused by dissolved gases emerging from solution as bubbles inside the body tissues during decompressio ...

incidence of 0.14% with two workers having long-term residual symptoms.

Traffic implications

Prior to the opening of the link, an average of 8,000 cars used the ferries across the Great Belt every day. The traffic across the strait increased 127 percent over the first year after the link's opening due to the so-called traffic leap: new traffic generated by the improved ease, facility and lower price of crossing the Great Belt. In 2021, an average of 34,100 vehicles used the link each day. On August 7, 2022 a record 61,528 vehicles passed the bridge in 24 hours. The increase in traffic is partly caused by the general growth of traffic, partly diversion of traffic volume from other services via ferry and services. The fixed link has produced considerable savings in travel time between eastern and western Denmark. Previously, it took approximately 90 minutes on average to cross the Great Belt in a car with transfer by ferry, including the waiting time at the ports. It took considerably longer during peak periods, such as weekends and holidays. With the opening of the link, the journey is now between 10 and 15 minutes. By train the time savings are significant as well. The journey has been reduced by 60 minutes, and there are many more seats available because more carriages may be added to a train that does not have to fit on a ferry. The

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile tha ...

offered by DSB across the Great Belt on an ordinary Wednesday has risen from 11,060 seats to 37,490 seats. On Fridays the

exceeds 40,000 seats. The shortest travel times are:

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan a ...

–

Odense Odense ( , , ) is the third largest city in Denmark (behind Copenhagen and Aarhus) and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2022, the city proper had a population of 180,863 while Odense Municipality had a population of 20 ...

1 hour 15 minutes, Copenhagen–

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately northwe ...

2 hours 30 minutes, Copenhagen–

Aalborg Aalborg (, , ) is Denmark's List of cities in Denmark by population, fourth largest town (behind Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Odense) with a population of 119,862 (1 July 2022) in the town proper and an Urban area, urban population of 143,598 (1 July ...

3 hours 55 minutes and Copenhagen–

Esbjerg Esbjerg (, ) is a seaport town and seat of Esbjerg Municipality on the west coast of the Jutland peninsula in southwest Denmark. By road, it is west of Kolding and southwest of Aarhus. With an urban population of 71,698 (1 January 2022) ...

2 hours 35 minutes. Flights between

and

, and between Copenhagen and

have ceased, and the train now has the largest market share between Copenhagen and Aarhus. Together with the

, and the two

Little Belt The Little Belt (, ) is a strait between the island of Funen and the Jutland Peninsula in Denmark. It is one of the three Danish Straits that drain and connect the Baltic Sea to the Kattegat strait, which drains west to the North Sea and Atla ...

bridges A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually someth ...

, the link provides a direct fixed connection between western Continental Europe and northern Scandinavia, eventually connecting all parts of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

except Ireland,

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...

, and outlying islands. Most people from Zealand still prefer to take the ferry between

Puttgarden is a ferry harbour and a village on the German island of Fehmarn. It lies on an important route between Germany and Denmark known as the Vogelfluglinie which crosses the strait, the Fehmarnbelt, to Rødby on the island of Lolland. Overvie ...

and

Rødby Rødby is a town, with a population of 1,983 (1 January 2022),Fehmarn Belt Fehmarn Belt (), (, former spelling ''Femer Bælt''; ) is a strait connecting the Bay of Kiel and the Bay of Mecklenburg in the western part of the Baltic Sea between the German island of Fehmarn and the Danish island of Lolland. Ferries oper ...

ferries, utilising short diesel trains, but now also use the Great Belt route, which potentially allows longer trains to be used, increasing capacity. By 2028, the

Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link The Fehmarn Belt fixed link ( da, Femern Bælt-forbindelsen, german: Fehmarnbelt-Querung) or Fehmarn Belt tunnel is an under-construction immersed tunnel, which will connect the Danish island of Lolland with the German island of Fehmarn, cross ...

is expected to be complete with much of the international traffic being shifted from the Great Belt Fixed Link. This more direct route will reduce the rail journey from Hamburg to Copenhagen from 4:45 to 3:30 hours.

Toll charge

In 2019, the vehicle tolls were:

Environmental effects

Environmental considerations have been an integral part of the project, and have been of decisive significance for the choice of alignment and determination of the design. Environmental considerations were the reason why Great Belt A/S established an environmental monitoring programme in 1988, and initiated co-operation with authorities and external consultants on the definition of environmental concerns during the construction work and the professional requirements to the monitoring programme. This co-operation issued in a report published at the beginning of 1997 on the state of the environment in the Great Belt. The conclusion of the report was that the marine environment was at least as good as before construction work began. With regards to the water flow, the link must comply with the so-called zero-solution. This has been achieved by deepening parts of the Great Belt, so that the water flow cross section has been increased. This excavation compensates for the blocking effect caused by the bridge pylons and approach ramps. The conclusion of the report is that water flows are now almost at the level they were before the bridge was built. The fixed link has generated increased road traffic volume, which has meant increased

air pollution Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different type ...

. However, there has been significant savings in the energy consumption by switching from ferries to the fixed link. Train and car ferries consume much energy for propulsion, high-speed ferries consume large amounts of energy at high speeds, and air transport is highly energy consuming. Domestic air travel over the Great Belt was greatly reduced after the opening of the bridge, with the former air travellers now using trains and private cars. The larger energy consumption by ferries as opposed to via the fixed link is most clearly seen when comparing short driving distances from areas immediately east or west of the link. For more extended driving distances the difference in energy consumption is smaller, but any transport within Denmark across the link shows very clear energy savings. During 2009, seven large wind turbines, likely Vestas 3MWs totalling 21MW capacity, were erected in the sea north of Sprogø to contribute to the electrical demand of the Great Belt Link. Their hub heights are about the same level as the road deck of the suspension bridge. Part of the project was to showcase sea wind at the December 2009 Copenhagen climate meeting.

Accidents

During construction 479 work-related accidents were reported, of which 53 resulted in serious injuries or death. Seven workers died as a result of work-related accidents. The West Bridge has been struck by sea traffic twice. While the link was still under construction on 14 September 1993, the ferry M/F Romsø drifted off course in bad weather and hit the West Bridge. At 19:17 on 3 March 2005, the 3,500-ton freighter

MV Karen Danielsen The M/V ''Karen Danielsen'', is a multipurpose container feeder, built in March 1985 by J.J. Sietas KG, at their shipbuilding yard in Hamburg-Neuenfelde, Germany, and labelled a type 111a. This ship is registered as the 970 new-build ship by J. ...

crashed into the West Bridge 800 metres from Funen. All traffic across the bridge was halted, effectively cutting Denmark in two. The bridge was re-opened shortly after midnight, after the freighter was pulled free and inspectors had found no structural damage to the bridge. The East Bridge has so far been in the clear, although on 16 May 2001, the bridge was closed for 10 minutes as the

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand ...

n 27,000-ton

bulk carrier A bulk carrier or bulker is a merchant ship specially designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo — such as grains, coal, ore, steel coils, and cement — in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrier was built in 1852, eco ...

''Bella'' was heading straight for one of the anchorage structures. The ship was deflected by a swift response from the navy. On 5 June 2006, a maintenance vehicle burst into flames in the east-bound railway tunnel at about 21:30. Nobody was hurt; its crew of three fled to the other tunnel and escaped. The fire was put out shortly before midnight, and the vehicle was removed from the tunnel the next day. Train service resumed on 6 June at reduced speed, and normal service was restored on 12 June. On 2 January 2019, eight people were killed in a train accident on the West Bridge. A passenger train was hit by a

semi-trailer A semi-trailer is a trailer without a front axle. In the United States, the term is also used to refer to the combination of a truck and a semi-trailer; a tractor-trailer. A large proportion of a semi-trailer's weight is supported by a trac ...

that fell off a freight train travelling in the opposite direction.

Operations

In 2009, a study characterized the rail tunnel (together with other major projects like the

Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel (french: Tunnel sous la Manche), also known as the Chunnel, is a railway tunnel that connects Folkestone (Kent, England, UK) with Coquelles ( Hauts-de-France, France) beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover ...

between England and France) as financially non-viable.

Gallery

File:Storebæltsbroen 2.jpg, The East Bridge from below File:Denmark Great Belt Bridge East.jpg, View from below the East Bridge south-east toward Korsør File:GreatBeltBridgeInBirdsView.jpg, The East Bridge from the top of the eastern pylon File:GreatBeltBridge.JPG, The East Bridge on a clear day File:Storeb%C3%A6ltsbroen_close.jpg, A closeup of the two pylons File:Allure of the Seas under the Storebaelts bridge.jpg, ''

Allure of the Seas ''Allure of the Seas'' is an owned and operated by Royal Caribbean International. , the ''Oasis'' class ships were the largest passenger vessels ever in service, and ''Allure'' is longer than her sister ship ''Oasis of the Seas'', though both w ...

'' passing under the East Bridge File:StoreBaelt sunset 01.jpg, The East Bridge at sunset File:StoreBaelt night 01.jpg, The East Bridge at night File:The Great Belt Bridge, Eastern Bridge, August 2020 -01.jpg, The East Bridge at sunset as seen aboard a cruise ship File:The Great Belt Bridge, Eastern Bridge, August 2020 -02.jpg, Passing the East Bridge aboard a cruise ship File:Storebæltsbroen, Nyborg, Denmark (17358922531).jpg, West bridge

Notes

External links

Great Belt BridgeGreat Belt bridge on bridge-info.org
*Great Belt Fixed Link is at coordinates * * * {{Coord, 55, 20, N, 10, 58, E, scale:100000_region:DK_type:landmark, display=title Suspension bridges in Denmark Tunnels in Denmark Box girder bridges Road bridges in Denmark Railway tunnels in Denmark Railway bridges in Denmark Bridge–tunnels in Europe Road-rail bridges Toll bridges in Denmark Bridges completed in 1997 Tunnels completed in 1997 Bridges completed in 1998 Connections across the Baltic Sea Modernist architecture in Denmark Danish Culture Canon 1997 establishments in Denmark 1998 establishments in Denmark