Detour Pit Stop #19: Oresund Bridge, Denmark-Sweden
Let’s clear a couple of things up straight away. Oresundsbron isn’t just a bridge - it’s a bridge, a man-made island and a tunnel that link Copenhagen in Denmark with Malmo in Sweden. Also, there isn’t actually anywhere to pause along the way, so it’s probably wrong to call it a pitstop.
But what there is, is an extraordinary feat of engineering ingenuity that is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.
Leaving Denmark’s capital you dive below Oresund (the narrow stretch of the Baltic between Denmark and Sweden) in the orange glow of a tunnel where road and rail traffic complete the first four kilometres of the crossing. These tunnels were pre-fabricated in sections, towed out to sea and then sunk in trenches that had been dug in the seabed.
You emerge from the tunnel onto the island of Peberholm – which didn’t exist at all two decades ago. It was created from the earth dug up for the tunnel and the bridge supports. Despite the frequent traffic the island has become a nature reserve, home to more than 500 species of plants, and thousands of birds, bugs and butterflies.
Four kilometres later you enter the bridge itself, with its eight-kilometre span, including one 490m stretch suspended between 200m-tall towers. As you breeze along at 110km/h, trundling beneath you on the lower deck of the bridge are the commuter trains that have helped create a new community of almost four million people – the two cities have effectively merged. About half way over, you’ll enter Sweden – a gruesome spot that Scandi-noire fans will remember from “The Bridge”. Survive this without being cut in half and you’ll soon reach Malmo.
I’ve crossed over on three occasions, by rental car en-route to Copenhagen, by rally-spec Prius to the land of the midnight sun and by Mazda MX-5 on my way from London to the northernmost point in Europe and every time it’s been both fascinating and exhilarating. There are longer bridges, there are taller bridges, but Ostersundsbron’s unique story makes it one of the most interesting in the world.
Roadbook
Class: BRIDGE
Name: ORESUNDSBRON
Route: Copenhagen to malmo
DISTANCE: 16km
Country: denmark / sweden