Nordhordland Bridge

Historie

The Nordhordland Bridge is a combined cable-stayed and pontoon bridge which crosses Salhusfjorden between Klauvaneset and Flatøy in Hordaland, Norway. It is 1614m long, of which the pontoon section is 1246m long. The cable-stayed section consists of a single 99m tall H-pylon which has a length of 368m and a main span of 172m. This allows for a clearance of 32m.The floating section is a steel box girder bridge with ten pontoons, which because of the fjord's depth are not laterally anchored. The roadway sits on an orthotropic deck. The pontoons and the cable-stayed bridge are built in concrete, with the main span being supported with 48 cables. The fjord end of the main span is supported by a 30m deep foundation, where the two bridges meet. From there and for 414m, the roadwall has a 5.7 percent gradient on a viaduct anchored to the pontoon bridge.The bridge carries two lanes of European Route E39, also called the Coastal Highway, and one pedestrian and bicycle path, and connects the district of Nordhordland to Bergen. Plans for a bridge had existed since the 1960s, and after the decision to construct the bridge was passed by the Parliament of Norway in 1989, construction started in 1991. Total costs, including auxiliary roads, was NOK 910 million. Part of the contract payment was subject to a court case which the contractors lost. The bridge opened on 22 September 1994, and remained a toll road until 31 December 2005. In 2014, it had an average daily traffic of 16,580 vehicles. There are plans to reinstate a toll on the bridge from 2013 to finance other road projects. The bridge is the second-longest in Norway, and the second pontoon bridge in Norway.