Storstrøm Bridge
Encyclopedia
Arch bridge
An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either side...
that crosses Storstrømmen
Storstrømmen
Storstrømmen is a strait in Denmark separating the island Falster from the island Zealand. Its maximum depth is approximately 36 metres and the length is around 10 km. Smålandsfarvandet sound is situated to the west and Grønsund lies to the east. Storstrøm Bridge crosses Storstrømmen between...
between the islands of Falster
Falster
Falster is an island in south-eastern Denmark with an area of 514 km² and 43,398 inhabitants as of 1 January 2010. Located in the Baltic sea, it is part of Region Sjælland and is administered by Guldborgsund Municipality...
and Masnedø
Masnedø
Masnedø is a Danish island between Zealand and Falster. The island covers an area of 1.68 km² and has 156 inhabitants. Masnedø can be reached by the Masnedsund Bridge from Zealand or the Storstrøm Bridge from Falster...
in Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
.
Together with Masnedsund Bridge
Masnedsund Bridge
Masnedsund Bridge is a road and railway bascule bridge that crosses Masnedsund between the islands Masnedø and Zealand in Denmark....
it connects Falster
Falster
Falster is an island in south-eastern Denmark with an area of 514 km² and 43,398 inhabitants as of 1 January 2010. Located in the Baltic sea, it is part of Region Sjælland and is administered by Guldborgsund Municipality...
and Zealand (Sjælland). It was the main road connection between the islands until the Farø Bridges
Farø Bridges
300px|thumb|The Farø Bridges from above: Zealand to the left, Falster to the right and Bogø at the top The Farø Bridges are two road bridges that connect the islands of Falster and Zealand in Denmark by way of the small island of Farø which is approximately mid-way across the Storstrømmen sound...
were opened in 1985. It is still the railway connection between the islands of Lolland
Lolland
Lolland is the fourth largest island of Denmark, with an area of 1,243 square kilometers . Located in the Baltic sea, it is part of Region Sjælland...
, Falster, and Zealand. It is on the rail line between Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
and Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
Measures
Christian X of Denmark
Christian X was King of Denmark from 1912 to 1947 and the only King of Iceland between 1918 and 1944....
on 26 September 1937. It has been said to have been the longest bridge in Europe, but this has never been true; the Tay Rail Bridge
Tay Rail Bridge
The Tay Bridge is a railway bridge approximately two and a quarter miles long that spans the Firth of Tay in Scotland, between the city of Dundee and the suburb of Wormit in Fife ....
and the Wuppertal Schwebebahn are older and longer.
Construction
The bridge was commissioned by the Danish state railways (De Danske Statsbaner) and designed by them with assistance from Christiani and Nielsen A/S of Copenhagen. Construction was by Dorman LongDorman Long
Dorman Long, based in Middlesbrough, North East England, was a major steel producer, which diversified into bridge building, and is now a manufacturer of steel components and construction equipment for bridges and other structures...
, with Christiani and Nielsen acting as sub-contractors responsible for foundations and reinforced concrete sections. The contract for the work was signed on 13 May 1933. Bridge designer Anker Engelund
Anker Engelund
Anker Dolleris Engelund was a Danish civil engineer and university professor.-Career:In 1928, he became professor of building statics at the Technical University of Denmark. He became rector of the technical university , during the period of the university's expansion at Østervold...
and chief civil engineer Anson Maunsell.
The bridge has 49 piers of different heights, extending to a maximum water depth of 13,8 metres. Each pier rests upon concrete foundations cast on the excavated bed of the sea, inside a cofferdam. Some piers could be excavated and cast with the cofferdam empty of water, where the soil was sufficiently waterproof, but others had to be excavated and cast underwater. Steel sheet piles were driven into the bed around the cofferdam. The foundations were continued upwards to a level 3 metres below the water surface.
The section of pier from 3 metres below water level to 3 metres above was made from pre-cast and granite clad concrete shells. These were set into position and then filled with concrete. The remainder of the height of each pier was created using sliding steel forms. The upper sections of the piers are hollow. Piers full height extends to a maximum of 38 Metres.
Upgrade?
The railway to the Fehmarn BeltFehmarn Belt
Fehmarn Belt 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 operated by Scandlines connect Puttgarden and Rødby on the two islands.The strait features a...
is planned to be double-tracked before the year 2018, as the planned Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link may increase traffic. However, there are no immediate plans to replace or extend the Storstrøm Bridge, which has only single track.