The Sortland Bridge ( no, Sortlandsbrua) is a

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a canti ...

road bridge 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 ...

that crosses the

Sortlandssundet Sortlandsundet or Sortlandssundet ( en, Sortland Sound''Norges Geologiske Undersøkelse'' no. 212. 1983. Trondheim: Norges Geologiske Undersokelse, p. 6.) is a strait or sound in Sortland Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It separates the ...

strait between the village of

Strand Strand may refer to: Topography *The flat area of land bordering a body of water, a: ** Beach ** Shoreline * Strand swamp, a type of swamp habitat in Florida Places Africa * Strand, Western Cape, a seaside town in South Africa * Strand Street ...

Hinnøya Hinnøya is the fourth-largest island in Norway, and the largest outside the Svalbard archipelago. The lies just off the western coast of Northern Norway. The island sits on the border of Nordland and Troms og Finnmark counties. The western ...

island and the town of Sortland on

Langøya Langøya is the third largest island of Norway (outside of Svalbard), with an area of . The island is a part of the Vesterålen archipelago in Nordland county, Norway. The island includes the municipalities of Bø and Øksnes as well as parts ...

island. It is located within

Sortland Municipality or is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Vesterålen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Sortland. Other population centres in Sortland include Bø, Holand, Holmsta ...

Nordland Nordland (; smj, Nordlánnda, sma, Nordlaante, sme, Nordlánda, en, Northland) is a county in Norway in the Northern Norway region, the least populous of all 11 counties, bordering Troms og Finnmark in the north, Trøndelag in the south, N ...

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 ...

. The bridge is long, the main span is , and the maximum clearance to the sea is . The bridge has 21 spans.. Retrieved 2012-07-29. The Sortland Bridge was opened in 1975. It was one of four bridges that were built in the 1970s to connect the islands of

Vesterålen Vesterålen is a district and archipelago in Nordland county, Norway. It is located just north of Lofoten and west of Harstad. It is the northernmost part of Nordland county. Sortland is the largest town, situated near the center of the archipe ...

to each other. The other bridges that were built during that period are the

Hadsel Bridge The Hadsel Bridge ( no, Hadselbrua) is a cantilever road bridge in Hadsel Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The bridge carries Norwegian County Road 82 and it crosses the Langøysundet strait between the islands of Langøya and Børøy ...

Andøy Bridge The Andøy Bridge ( no, Andøybrua) is a cantilever road bridge that crosses the Risøysundet strait between the islands of Andøya and Hinnøya in Andøy Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The northern end of the bridge is located in th ...

and Kvalsaukan Bridge. Together with the

Tjeldsund Bridge The Tjeldsund Bridge ( no, Tjeldsundbrua) is a suspension road bridge that crosses the Tjeldsundet strait between the mainland and the island of Hinnøya in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The bridge is long, the main span is , and the maximu ...

near

Harstad ( se, Hárstták) is the second-most populated municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. It is mostly located on the large island of Hinnøya. The municipal center is the town of Harstad, the most populous town in Central Hålogalan ...

, these bridges connect the islands of Vesterålen to the mainland. The Sortland Bridge was a toll bridge for many years after its opening. Before the bridge was built, a ferry carried passengers across the strait. The ferry crossing was one of the busiest in Norway.

References

Sortland Bridges completed in 1975 Road bridges in Nordland Former toll bridges in Norway 1975 establishments in Norway {{Norway-bridge-stub

See also

References