Askøy Bridge

Historie

The Askøy Bridge is a suspension bridge which crosses the Byfjorden between the municipalities of Bergen and Askøy in Hordaland county, Norway. It is 1057m long and has a main span of 850m. Its span was the longest for any suspension bridge in Norway, until the Hardanger Bridge was opened in August 2013. It carries two lanes of County Road 562 and a combined pedestrian and bicycle path. The bridge's two concrete pylons are 152m tall and are located at Brøstadneset in Bergen municipality and Storeklubben in Askøy municipality . The bridge has seven spans in total, although all but the main span are concrete viaducts. The bridge has a clearance below of 62m.The first plans to replace the Kleppestø–Nøstet Ferry with a bridge, which would allow the island of Askøy to have a fixed link, was launched in the 1960s. Various proposals were made, including placing the bridge further east and closer to Bergen, and building a submerged floating tunnel. In the early 1970s, a toll company was established to finance the bridge, but the planned costs were too high to cover with just tolls and there was the lack of a motorway to Bergen from the west. Because of this, the construction of the bridge was postponed. In the early 1980s, there was controversy about whether advanced tolls should be charged on the ferry, but these were ultimately charged from 1984 until the bridge opened. Construction started in 1989 and the bridge opened ahead of schedule on 12 December 1992, along with a new section of the road which included the Stongafjell Tunnel and Olsvik Tunnel. The bridge remained a toll road until 2006.