Hardanger Bridge is a bridge

Bridge

A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...

 under construction which will cross the Hardangerfjord

Hardangerfjord

With a length of , the Hardangerfjord in the county of Hordaland in Norway is the third largest fjord in the world and the second largest in Norway. The surrounding district is called Hardanger....

 in southwestern Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

. It will replace today's ferry

Ferry

A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...

 connection, a part of the shortest road connection between Oslo

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

 and Bergen

Bergen

Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....

.

The bridge will be about 1380 metres long, with a main span of 1310 meters. It will be a suspension bridge

Suspension bridge

A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck is hung below suspension cables on vertical suspenders. Outside Tibet and Bhutan, where the first examples of this type of bridge were built in the 15th century, this type of bridge dates from the early 19th century...

, one of the longest spans in the world (no 7 in today's list, no 9 when completed, and no 1 in Norway).

The small difference between length and span is because the fjord quickly becomes very deep, and the towers must stand on shore. Also there are steep mountain walls. On both sides the road will enter tunnels directly from the bridge. The maximum water depth near the bridge is about 500 m, and the mountains surrounding the fjord are about 1200 m high.

The cost will be 1,8 billion Norwegian krone

Norwegian krone

The krone is the currency of Norway and its dependent territories. The plural form is kroner . It is subdivided into 100 øre. The ISO 4217 code is NOK, although the common local abbreviation is kr. The name translates into English as "crown"...

r, and construction start was in February 2009, and opening is planned 2013.

The engineering part of the project will be done by Statens Vegvesen, Veidirektoratet. The cable bands, tower saddles and splay saddles have been manufactured in the UK by Goodwin Steel Castings Ltd

Goodwin Steel Castings Ltd

Goodwin Steel Castings Limited is a heavy engineering firm located in Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire, England. The company specialises in the production of large, bespoke, machined steel castings.-History:...

.