Lidingöbron () is the name of two existing and three historical bridges across the strait of

Lilla Värtan Lilla Värtan () or simply Värtan is a strait in Stockholm, Sweden. Separating mainland Stockholm from the island and municipality Lidingö, it stretches from Blockhusudden in the south to Stora Värtan in the north, and is joined by the Stocks ...

between the mainland

Norra Djurgården NORRA or Norra may refer to: * Nordic Regional Airlines, a Finnish airline operating on behalf of, and formerly majority-owned by, Finnair * National Off-Road Racing Association The National Off-Road Racing Association (usually abbreviated NORRA) i ...

Ropsten Ropsten is a cape at the eastern part of Stockholm mainland at the inner part of Stockholm archipelago in Sweden. Two bridges named Lidingöbron extend from Ropsten over to the island of Lidingö. Ropsten area is located between Hjorthagen and ...

, at the eastern part of

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, and the island of

Lidingö Lidingö (), also known in its definite form Lidingön and as Lidingölandet, is an island in the inner Stockholm archipelago, northeast of Stockholm, Sweden. In 2023, the population of the Lidingö urban area on the island was 48,162. It is the ...

History

First pontoon bridge

At a parish meeting in 1802, the inhabitants of Lidingö, at the time a mostly agricultural district, decided to open a venture to realize a

pontoon bridge A pontoon bridge (or ponton bridge), also known as a floating bridge, is a bridge that uses float (nautical), floats or shallow-draft (hull), draft boats to support a continuous deck for pedestrian and vehicle travel. The buoyancy of the support ...

connecting the island to Stockholm. The 50 shares of the company had to be redeemed by contributing to the project with timber, work, or money and the bridge was completed in 1803; almost long, wide and financed by tolls. It was one of the longest bridges in Europe, and it was located around south of the present bridges. It had a hard time surviving the annual ice break-up, and a third of it was demolished in 1811, and most of it in 1858 — each time raising the price for milk in the capital, as most of it was produced on Lidingö at the time.

Second pontoon bridge

With the creation of the harbour of

Värtahamnen Värtahamnen is a port in Stockholm, Sweden. Värtahamnen and the adjacent Stockholm Free Port at Lilla Värtan is Stockholm's main port. Värtahamnen primarily serves passenger ferries for the shipping company Silja Line as well as freighters f ...

, the original bridge obstructed shipping in the strait, and it was therefore bought by the city of Stockholm in 1883 who replaced it 1884 with a new

, wide and with two moveable sections at each end for the passage of ships. This bridge was located near the present bridge. The level of the roadway was only over the water surface however, so even moderate winds made crossing the bridge a tough experience. The lateral stability of the bridge was ensured by means of logs attached to the bridge every and anchored to the bottom. The use of logs instead of chains effectively increased the bridge's general buoyancy at the cost of its stability during low tide - the bridge often serpentined its way across the water while the inclination of the roadway at the two ends made use of extra horses necessary. Heavy

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construct ...

s started to use the bridge, for which it was not constructed. Ice break-up destroyed a third of the bridge in 1918.

Old Lidingöbron

By the end of World War I, the increasing number of motor cars made a more able bridge necessary, and by 1925 a steel

truss bridge A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements, typically straight, may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...

, wide with a long roadway, finally replaced the second pontoon bridge. It had two railway tracks in the same carriageway as the road. To avoid foundation work at the maximum depth a long truss arch was used, and the bridge was provided with a simple long

bascule A bascule is a counterbalanced structure (i.e. a lever) having one end that rises as the other lowers. It may also refer to: * Bascule bridge, a moveable bridge with a counterweight that continuously balances the span in providing clearance for b ...

leaf in order to allow a vertical navigation clearance of . After the new bridge was built 1971, cars were no longer allowed on the old bridge. It had one rail track which was also rebranded to a

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

way (or

light rail Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...

line), the

Lidingöbanan Lidingöbanan () is a light-rail line in Stockholm, Sweden, between Ropsten and Gåshaga brygga, serving the southern half of Lidingö island. History The Lidingöbanan has its origins in the ''Stockholm-Södra Lidingöns Järnväg'' (Stockho ...

. The other half of the bridge was used for bicycles and pedestrians. It was torn down in 2023 after the Little Lidingöbron was opened in 2022, because the Old Lidingöbron was considered in a bad shape.

New Lidingöbron

The population of Lidingö as well as the traffic continued to grow however, and by the 1950s the old bridge had become insufficient. The two municipalities met in 1961, and the following year it was settled a new road bridge should be located south of the old. The new road bridge, inaugurated in 1971, is long, (3+3 lanes) wide, and offers a navigation clearance of while the roadway passes above the bottom of the strait. The part of the bridge passing over water, long, is made of double

box girder A box girder or tubular girder (or box beam) is a girder that forms an enclosed tube with multiple walls, as opposed to an i-beam, - or H-beam. Originally constructed of wrought iron joined by riveting, they are now made of rolled steel, rolled ...

s with a maximum span of , the entire construction resting on steel poles filled with concrete.

Little Lidingöbron

Little Lidingöbron is a double track tram bridge with bicycle path. The length is 750 meters. It was built because the Old Lidingöbron was considered in a bad shape. It was opened for bicycles and pedestrians in May 2022, while tram traffic delayed to 26 May 2024 due to technical problems.

Image gallery

Image:Lidingöbron 1871.jpg, First pontoon bridge, built in 1803. View from Larsberg at Lidingö. Image:Lidingöbron 1884.jpg, Second pontoon bridge, built in 1884. View from

. Image:Lidingo Bridge 1925.png, Drawing for the "Old" Lidingö bridge, built in 1925. Image:Lidingoebanan bron.jpg, View from the bridge built in 1925 with a tram heading for Gåshaga and a man fishing from the bridge.

Sources

* Lidingöbron in Swedish.