The Sotra Bridge ( no, Sotrabrua) is a
suspension bridge
A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck (bridge), deck is hung below suspension wire rope, cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridg ...
which crosses
Knarreviksundet between
Knarrevik
Knarrevik or Knarrvika is a village in Øygarden municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located along the Byfjorden on the eastern coast of the island of Litlesotra, just north of the village of Straume. The western end of the Sotra B ...
in
Øygarden Municipality
Øygarden is a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is an island municipality located in the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Midhordland, stretching along the west coast of the cou ...
and
Drotningsvik Drotningsvik is a neighbourhood in the city of Bergen, Norway. It is located west of the village of Loddefjord in the borough of Laksevåg
Laksevåg is a borough of the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The borough is located in the w ...
on the mainland of
Bergen Municipality
Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula o ...
in
Vestland
Vestland is a county in Norway established on 1 January 2020. The county is located in Western Norway and it is centred around the city of Bergen, Norway's second largest city. The administrative centre of the county is the city of Bergen, where t ...
county,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
. It carries two road lanes and two narrow pedestrian paths of
National Road 555, providing a
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 somethi ...
for the
archipelago
An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands.
Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...
of
Sotra
Sotra or Store Sotra is the name of a large island in Øygarden Municipality in Vestland county, Norway, located just west of the city of Bergen. It is part of a pair of islands called 'Sotra' and 'Litlesotra' ('small Sotra') that are part of a ...
. The bridge is long, has a main span of and a clearance of . In 2007, it had an average 25,494 vehicles per day.
The bridge was brought into use on 11 December 1971, although not officially opened until 1972. It cost 40 million
Norwegian krone
The krone (, abbreviation: kr (also NKr for distinction); code: NOK), plural ''kroner'', is currency of the Kingdom of Norway (including Svalbard). Traditionally known as the Norwegian crown in English. It is nominally subdivided into 100 ''Ã ...
(NOK) to build, of which NOK 23.5 million was paid for with
tolls, which were collected until 1983. When it opened, it was the longest suspension bridge in Norway, but is now the seventh longest. There exist plans to build a second bridge to either expand the road to four lanes, or carry a proposed extension of the
Bergen Light Rail
Bergen Light Rail ( no, Bybanen) is a light rail system in Bergen, Norway. The first stage of the project was a twenty-station stretch between the city center and Lagunen Storsenter, where the first 15 stations comprising a stretch opened in ...
. Alternatively, a
subsea tunnel could be built to carry a
motorway
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...
.
Specifications
![Sotrabrua deck](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Sotrabrua_deck.jpg)
The concrete bridge crosses Knarreviksundet, which separates the island of
Litlesotra
Litlesotra, or sometimes Lille Sotra, is an island in Øygarden Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is part of the Sotra island group which makes up the southern part of a larger archipelago of islands from Fedje south through Øygarden. ...
, part of the Sotra archipelago, from the mainland and Bergen. The western part of the bridge, on Sotra, lies in Knarrevik in Fjell, while the eastern part lies in Drotningsvik in Bergen. The bridge is long with a main span of . It carries two lanes of National Road 555, with a combined width of . In addition, it has a wide sidewalk on each side. In 2009, it had an
annual average daily traffic
Annual average daily traffic, abbreviated AADT, is a measure used primarily in transportation planning, transportation engineering and retail location selection. Traditionally, it is the total volume of vehicle traffic of a highway or road for a y ...
of 25,494 vehicles. Because it is located across the sound, the bridge is vulnerable to winds from the north and south. It is closed whenever the wind speed exceeds .
History
Planning
The first discussion of a bridge in a public forum was in 1954, when Anton P. Torsvik proposed a bridge to the major and municipal engineer of Fjell. Torsvik lived in
Oslo
Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
and had worked with
public relations
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...
for various other bridge projects. The issue was discussed in the municipal councils of Fjell and
Sund, but they both concluded that there were more pressing needs on the islands' road network, so they did not want to prioritize a bridge. National Road 555 was completed in 1957, and the following years various road projects were completed.
Another person who took up the initiative in the late 1950s was Rangvald Iversen, who was plant manager at
Norwegian Talc Norwegian Talc AS is a manufacturer of talc located in Knarrevik in Fjell, Norway. It is owned by Omya.
History
In 1989, the company, which at the time had plants in Knarrevik, Altermark in Mo i Rana and in Framfjord in Vik Vik (Old Norse: vÃk) ...
at Knarrevik. The plant had large costs freighting their products across the sound on the
Alvøy–Brattholmen Ferry. In 1958, he took the initiative to conduct a traffic count, which along with estimates of increased traffic from other places that had replaced a ferry with a bridge, would give estimates for the revenue from tolls. Norwegian Talc also paid for a draft plan for a bridge. In 1959, Iversen presented an estimate that a bridge would cost NOK 15.5 million, and on 19 December 1959, the council voted unanimously to recommend that a committee be established to continue work on the bridge plans.
In 1960, the bridge was included in the road plan for Hordaland.
![Sotrabrua 2 (1)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Sotrabrua_2_%281%29.jpg)
There were also some plans for the future which would remove the last ferries within the Sotra and
Øygarden
Øygarden is a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is an island municipality located in the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Midhordland, stretching along the west coast of the cou ...
archipelagos, meaning that the entire twin archipelago would have ferry-free access to the mainland, should the Sotra Bridge be built.
The plans had been spurred by a large decrease in fishing during the late 1950s, and the need for increased tax revenue from new industries. The framework for the plan started in 1961 with the creation of an inter-municipal cooperation,
which in 1964 resulted in the merger of the municipalities of
Hjelme
Hjelme is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county in Norway. The municipality was located within the northern part of the present-day municipality of Øygarden. It existed from 1910 until 1964. The administrative centre was located a ...
and
Herdla
Herdla is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county in Norway. The municipality existed from 1871 until its dissolution in 1964. The municipality encompassed a large group of about 2,000 islands and skerries covering about of land area ...
to create Øygarden. On 8 May 1962, an inter-municipal road committee was established, which recommended that a
limited company
In a limited company, the liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by Share (finance), shares or by guarantee. In a company limited by ...
be established to finance the bridge. In Bergen,
Bro og Tunnelselskapet had similarly built the
Puddefjord Bridge
The Puddefjord Bridge ( no, Puddefjordsbroen) is an arch bridge in Bergen, Norway.
The reinforced concrete bridge consists of two directly adjacent, near-identical bridges, the first of which was built in 1956 and the second in 1999. Norwegian ...
and
Eidsvåg Tunnel, and the inter-municipal council recommended a similar model. However, they wanted a separate company for Sotra and Øygarden, so extra tolls could be used to help finance road projects on the archipelago.
On 29 June 1962, Fjell Municipality sent an official application to the
County Governor to start planning, and this was sent onwards to the Directorate for Public Roads.
They concluded that it would be possible to finance the bridge with tolls collected over 13 to 14 years, with the state paying for one-third of the bridge. The plans called for the bridge to run south of Norwegian Talc, but it was later routed slightly north, so that the span could be reduced from . The optimal location would be within the Norwegian Talc plant, and by placing the western pylon on a
skerry
A skerry is a small rocky island, or islet, usually too small for human habitation. It may simply be a rocky reef. A skerry can also be called a low sea stack.
A skerry may have vegetative life such as moss and small, hardy grasses. They a ...
, it was possible to reduce the span to .
The plans from 1959 called for a height of , but the Public Roads Administration stated that a height of would be sufficient, and also help to reduce the construction costs. In 1962, the extra costs for the higher height were estimated at NOK 4 million.
Bergen Port Authority
Bergen Port Authority ( no, Bergen og Omegn havnevesen) is an intermunicipal enterprise owned by the municipalities of Askøy, Austrheim, Bergen, Fedje, Fjell, Lindås, Meland, Os, Radøy, Sund and Øygarden as well as Hordaland county munic ...
stated in 1963 that they required a height of , while the local newspapers felt that was sufficient. Bergen City Council voted in favor of the shortest proposal.
The
Royal Norwegian Navy
The Royal Norwegian Navy ( no, Sjøforsvaret, , Sea defence) is the branch of the Norwegian Armed Forces responsible for naval operations of Norway. , the Royal Norwegian Navy consists of approximately 3,700 personnel (9,450 in mobilized state, 3 ...
supported a taller bridge, but were more willing to reduce the height than the port authority.
The port authority reduced its preferred height to , with the road authority responding that such a clearance only existed in a very few places in the world, and that the extra costs could result in the whole project being abandoned.
![Sotra Bridge](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/Sotra_Bridge.jpg)
It was the
Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs who had the final word in the matter. A national committee was established in 1963 to make guidelines for clearances, and it recommended that be used in fjords and sounds where very large ships, in particular
cruise ship
Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as "s ...
s, would pass, while would permissible for minor and inner parts of fjords, as well as passages where alternatives were available.
The clearance of the Sotra Bridge would only be applicable for ships coming from the south, and even these had the option of sailing around Øygarden, an increased distance of . For ships from the east, the distance would be the same, while from the north they would not pass through the sound.
The port authority stated on 11 November 1963 that they were willing to allow a smaller clearance, which was back up by Bergen City Council on 27 November. The ministry finalized the decision on 16 December, supporting a height of .
Financing and construction
On 2 January 1965, the bridge committee recommended that a limited company be established to finance the bridge. The three archipelago municipalities, Fjell, Sund and Øygarden, would purchase shares for NOK 500,000, while another NOK 200,000 would be purchased from the mainland municipalities and
Hordaland County Municipality
Hordaland County Municipality ( no, Hordaland fylkeskommune) was the regional governing administration of the old Hordaland county in Norway. The county municipality was established in its most recent form on 1 January 1976 when the law was change ...
.
The company was established as A/S Sotrabrua on 16 October 1965, with the head office located in Fjell.
The company was given authority by its owners to apply for a 20-year
concession
Concession may refer to:
General
* Concession (contract) (sometimes called a concession agreement), a contractual right to carry on a certain kind of business or activity in an area, such as to explore or develop its natural resources or to opera ...
to collect tolls on a new bridge; if the tolls gave a profit beyond covering the debt of the bridge, it was to be used for further construction of roads on Sotra and Øygarden. The company was formally registered on 12 January 1966.
To get satisfactory conditions for the loan, the company was recommended by banks to increase the
ownership equity
In finance, equity is ownership of assets that may have debts or other liabilities attached to them. Equity is measured for accounting purposes by subtracting liabilities from the value of the assets. For example, if someone owns a car worth $2 ...
to 10% of the loan. The share capital was insufficient, so the company started issuing
preferred share
Preferred stock (also called preferred shares, preference shares, or simply preferreds) is a component of share capital that may have any combination of features not possessed by common stock, including properties of both an equity and a debt inst ...
s to individuals and the companies, and managed to secure NOK 1.7 million. An exception to the rules was made, and the company was allowed to start detailed planning before the loans had been finalized. An estimate from 1966 showed that the bridge itself would cost NOK 27 million, while the auxiliary roads would cost NOK 4 million, excluding inflation and interest during construction. On 23 November 1966, the county council supported a proposal that one third of the construction costs be covered by national road funds.
On 10 August 1967, the
Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a part of the government in most countries that is responsible for matters related to the finance.
Lists of current ministries of finance
Named "Ministry"
* Ministry of Finance (Afghanistan)
* Ministry of Finance and Eco ...
and the
Bank of Norway gave permission that the company could borrow up to NOK 25 million.
The loan was a
bond
Bond or bonds may refer to:
Common meanings
* Bond (finance), a type of debt security
* Bail bond, a commercial third-party guarantor of surety bonds in the United States
* Chemical bond, the attraction of atoms, ions or molecules to form chemical ...
sold by
Bergens Privatbank
Bergens Privatbank was a Norwegian commercial bank based in Bergen. It was established in 1855 and built a network of branches throughout the country. Jørgen Breder Faye was the first director and held the position until 1904. The bank merged with ...
and
Samvirke Forsikring, consisting of one series valued at NOK 15 million issued in 1968, and one valued at NOK 10 million issued in 1970, with an interest of 5.5% and 6.0%, respectively. There was a five years interest-only period, followed by ten years of repayment. The mortgage deed was secured in the right to collect tolls, supported by guarantees from the municipalities of Bergen, Fjell, Sund and Øygarden, and the county municipality. In addition, the company was granted loans from Bergens Privatbank,
Bergens Sparebank
Bergens Sparebank was a Norwegian savings bank based in Bergen. It was established in 1823, making it the second-oldest savings bank in Norway and the oldest in Bergen. It merged with 25 savings banks in 1982 to become Sparebanken Vest
Sparebanken ...
and
Vestlandsbanken
Vestlandsbanken was a bank based in Bergen, Norway. It was established in 1926 and explicitly did all its business in Nynorsk. In 1975, it merged with the Oslo-based Oslo Nye Sparebank, also it a Nynorsk-bank. In 1987, Vestlandsbanken merged with ...
for NOK 3 million, although these were never used. The state's part of the financing was through a loan from the
Regional Development Fund
The Regional Development Fund ( no, Distriktenes utbyggingsfond, DU) was a national development bank in Norway tasked with promoting regional development by counselling, loans and subsidies. The fund was established in 1961 and existed until 1993 ...
.
![Bergen, Sotra Bridge-edit](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Bergen%2C_Sotra_Bridge-edit.JPG)
The bridge was approved by the
Parliament of Norway
The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years bas ...
on 5 June 1968. An agreement regarding financing was made between A/S Sotrabrua and the
Ministry of Transport and Communications on 1 July 1968. The construction of the road would be done by Hordaland Public Road Administration, who would receive two-thirds of the financing of costs up to NOK 34 million from the company. The company would also advance the state's part of the costs, which would be repaid to the company as NOK 1 million per year, for an estimated advance of NOK 8.3 million. The company would be responsible for any interest, including that which would be accumulated during construction, and would have the right to collect tolls on all traffic on the bridge.
The optimal crossing point ran over Norwegian Talc's plant, and would involve placing the western pylon in the middle of their area. The company offered the authorities free land on the condition that they received a satisfactory intersection with the bridge. A formal agreement was reached in mid-1970. On the eastern side, an
area development plan had to be made, which was approved on 19 May 1967. The necessary land not already owned by the municipalities was
expropriated
Eminent domain (United States, Philippines), land acquisition (India, Malaysia, Singapore), compulsory purchase/acquisition (Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, United Kingdom), resumption (Hong Kong, Uganda), resumption/compulsory acquisition (Austr ...
.
Initial plans had called for the bridge to be completed by October 1972. On 28 December 1968, the company asked the road administration if construction could be quickened. They estimated that the bridge could be completed by December 1971 for a price increase of NOK 750,000. This gave the company NOK 2 million more in profits, as it could more quickly start collecting toll revenue. The company chose to accept this extra cost. The start of construction was delayed, first by the parliamentary decision coming right before the holidays, followed immediately by a national strike by engineers. The contract for the foundation and concrete work was won by Selmer, who started work in March 1969. The steel-work contracts were issued to Høsveis, Bofa and Alfred Andersen; despite them not having the lowest bid, the road administration chose to use the largest companies.
On 11 December 1971, the bridge opened for traffic, and on the same day, the Alvøy–Brattholmen Ferry was terminated. In February 1972, there were twice as many cars as there had been on the ferry in February 1971. The official opening by
King Olav V
Olav V (; born Prince Alexander of Denmark; 2 July 1903 – 17 January 1991) was the King of Norway from 1957 until his death in 1991.
Olav was the only child of King Haakon VII of Norway and Maud of Wales. He became heir apparent to the Norw ...
took place on 25 May 1972.
The bridge cost NOK 39.8 million to construct. This included NOK 650,000 for the county road between Knarrevik and Brattholmen, which had been paid for by the state. The cost the company had to pay was NOK 23.45 million.
The final estimates for the project were for NOK 34 million, and the whole cost above this was covered by the state.
When it opened, the bridge was the longest in Norway.
Tolls and auxiliary projects
Since the bridge would be the only road from the mainland to the archipelago, tolls could be collected in only one direction.
The tolls were set to NOK 40 for
semitrailer
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 tracto ...
s, NOK 30 for buses, NOK 20 for trucks, NOK 12 for cars, NOK 5 for motorcycles, NOK 4 for bicycles, NOK 2 for adults and 1 for children. Discounts were available at the same rates as for ferries. The four people who had worked the longest on the ferry were offered the job as
toll plaza
A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road (almost always a controlled-access highway in the present day) for which a fee (or ''toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented ...
employees. From 1972, the bookkeeping of the company was transferred from the company's secretary to Bergens Privatbank's branch in Sotra, while the auditing was placed at Hordaland County Auditing.
In 1972, the company collected NOK 3.07 million in tolls, 21% more than estimated. By 1977, the annual income had reached NOK 5.03 million, which was up 28% from the estimates. From 1978, the tolls for people were removed, resulting in about NOK 1 million less revenue per year.
One of the reasons for the removal of passenger tolls was the extra time used to count passengers, which increased the queues at the toll plaza, and that the company's debt would be covered anyway, even without the extra revenue. From 1 January 1981, scheduled buses were also exempt from tolls, under the condition that the funds saved were used by the bus companies to strengthen public transport on Sotra. From 1980, there was disagreement within the company as to whether the toll period should be extended to increase the subsidies to projects on Sotra and Øygarden, or if an as short as possible collection period was desirable.
The board decided to terminate toll collections from 31 December 1983. A minority of the owners wanted to extend the period for another two years, which would have given an estimated additional NOK 20 million.
The company collected NOK 73.5 million in tolls, in addition to accumulating NOK 16.3 million in interest. Costs, mostly for running of the toll plaza, were NOK 7.6 million, in addition to financial costs of NOK 20.0 million. This gave a profit of NOK 62.4 million, including the necessary repayments of the initial loan. Because the debt had been financed with bonds, the company chose to place revenue in the bank with a higher interest instead of paying off the bonds faster. The preferred shares were repaid in 1980, while all bonds had been repaid by 1985.
A/S Sotrabrua was formally liquidated on 9 February 1989.
Among the company's other goals was that of helping finance road projects on Øygarden. The most pressing issue was the section from
Kolltveit
Kolltveit is a village in Øygarden municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The village lies on the eastern shore of the island of Sotra. The island of Bildøyna lies about east of the shore in Kolltveit.
National Road 555 reaches Kolltveit ...
on
Store Sotra to the bridge, part of National Road 555. In 1976, the company issued NOK 5 million in an interest-free loan to the project, which was repaid in 1982 and 1983. Similar conditions were imposed for NOK 2 million for
National Road 561 to
Nordra Straumsundet and NOK 1.2 million for the establishment of the
Solsvik–Rong Ferry in 1974.
The rest of the subsidies were given as grants. The main project was National Road 561, which ran from Kollveit northwards through Øygarden,
for which the company paid NOK 28.6 million. It paid a further NOK 9.3 million for other projects in Sotra and Øygarden, including connections to
Turøy
Turøyna or Turøy is an island in Øygarden Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The island lies just west of the islands of Toftøyna and Misje. Prior to 1964, the island was part of the old municipality of Herdla. Then from 1964 until 202 ...
and
Misje
Misje is an island (and village) in Øygarden Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The island lies just south of the island of Toftøyna and north of the large island of Sotra. Almost all of the 257 inhabitants (as of 2009) live on the eas ...
.
Future
![Sotrabrua-2003-12-21](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Sotrabrua-2003-12-21.jpg)
In 2005, 8,000 people commuted between Sotra and Bergen, and the bridge had an average daily traffic of 22,000 vehicles. On National Road 555 between
Straume, the municipal center of Fjell, and
Storavatnet, where National Road 555 becomes a
motorway
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...
, there are long queues during
rush hour
A rush hour (American English, British English) or peak hour (Australian English) is a part of the day during which traffic congestion on roads and crowding on public transport is at its highest. Normally, this happens twice every weekday: on ...
.
The Norwegian Public Roads Administration has proposed a four-lane motorway along National Road 555 from Stoavatnet to Straume. This will require a new crossing across Knarreviksundet. Such a motorway extension is estimated to cost between NOK 3 and 4 billion, and the government has allocated NOK 400 million in National Transport Plan 2010–2019 for the project. It is presumed that most of the project will be financed as a toll road.
Four main proposals were suggested for the new fixed link. One involved a four-lane
subsea tunnel, one involved building a second, two-lane bridge immediately adjacent to the current one, which would give the impression of a single bridge, another involved a new four-lane bridge slightly to the south, and the last involved a new bridge considerably further to the south, which would connect to
County Road 557.
A tunnel would consist of two sections, one from Kolltveit to Arefjord, where there would be an intersection, and one from Arefjord to Storavatnet. Both would be subsea tunnels, where the westernmost would be long and reach below
mean sea level
There are several kinds of mean in mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. ...
(BMSL), while the eastern tunnel would be long and reach BMSL. This would involve the current National Road 555 being reclassified as a local road. A tunnel would be longer than a bridge, which would give higher costs of roughly NOK 1000 per year for an average commuter. The tunnel would catch long-distance travel (Straume and westwards), while the bridge would be used for local traffic.
An alternate tunnel proposal was to build it roughly south of the current bridge, between
Brattholmen and
HÃ¥konshella. This would connect to County Road 557 about south of Liavatnet.
The company Sotrasambandet AS has been established to lobby for and potentially debt-finance the construction, which potentially could include other parts of National Roads 555 and 561. In 2008, the company estimated that it might be possible to start construction in 2013, and complete the project by 2016. On 21 April 2009, State Secretary
Geir Pollestad
Geir Pollestad (born 13 August 1978) is a Norwegian solicitor and politician for the Centre Party. He is currently serving as the minister of agriculture and food since 2023, and has been a member of parliament for Rogaland since 2013.
Early li ...
stated that the government would support a bridge, but did not indicate if a two-lane or four-lane solution would be chosen. The Norwegian Public Roads Administration has recommended a four-lane bridge, while the
Institute of Transport Economics
The Institute of Transport Economics (Transportøkonomisk institutt –TØI) is a national, Norwegian institution for multidisciplinary transport research. Its mission is to develop and disseminate transportation knowledge of scientific quality an ...
has recommended the two-lane bridge. It is largely up to the city councils of Bergen and Fjell to determine which of the bridge alternatives will be chosen.
A four-lane bridge is estimated to cost NOK 2 billion.
It could either be located immediately north of the current bridge, or south of Norwegian Talc. The traffic from
Askøy
Askøy is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The island municipality is located in the Midhordland district of the county, sitting in a large group of islands immediately northwest of the city of Bergen. The administrative centre of the ...
, along
County Road 562, connects with National Road 555 at Storavatnet. Without a bypass, the increased capacity from Sotra would not be achieved without expanding the motorway from Storavatnet to the city center. In 2010, an alternative was launched whereby a four-lane bridge would be built south of Norwegian Talc, and would immediately run into a tunnel and connect to the current motorway at
Liavatnet. This is the planned intersection between National Road 555 and County Road 557 (Ring Road West), which would result in traffic from Sotra towards southern Bergen would not take up capacity on the current 555 motorway until after traffic from both Sotra and Askøy heading towards southern Bergen have had a possibility to head onto County Road 557.
In June 2010,
Hordaland County Council decided that an extension of the
Bergen Light Rail
Bergen Light Rail ( no, Bybanen) is a light rail system in Bergen, Norway. The first stage of the project was a twenty-station stretch between the city center and Lagunen Storsenter, where the first 15 stations comprising a stretch opened in ...
to Sotra was to be made part of the extension plans in the period until 2040. For the light rail to use existing infrastructure, a bridge would have to be chosen. The road project has been criticized by environmentalists because it uniformly bases growth in transport to the archipelago based on cars, and lacks any plans for inclusion of public transport, whether by light rail or as
bus lane
A bus lane or bus-only lane is a lane restricted to buses, often on certain days and times, and generally used to speed up public transport that would be otherwise held up by traffic congestion. The related term busway describes a roadway ...
s. Criticism has also been raised against the Norwegian Public Roads Administration being responsible for planning the public transport, as they have failed to produce efficient public transport systems in Bergen.
References
;Bibliography
*
*
*
{{Authority control
Suspension bridges in Norway
Norwegian National Road 555
Bridges completed in 1971
1971 establishments in Norway
Road bridges in Vestland
Road bridges in Bergen
Øygarden
Former toll bridges in Norway