New Norwegian bridge open to traffic

A new bridge is now open to traffic in Norway. The Hålogaland Bridge has a total length of 1,533m and a main span of 1,145m and is Norway's second longest suspension bridge. The structure was designed by COWI and crosses the deep waters of Rombaksfjorden in northern Norway. The bridge will improve road safety, as well as reducing the distance between Narvik and Bjerkvik by 18km. The pre-existing route around Rombaksfjorden is frequently exposed to landslides and the opening of the bridge shortens travel tim
December 11, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
COWI and Dissing+Weitling are both proud of the design work they put into the aesthetic new Hålogaland Bridge in northern Norway

A new bridge is now open to traffic in Norway. The Hålogaland Bridge has a total length of 1,533m and a main span of 1,145m and is Norway's second longest suspension bridge. The structure was designed by 8721 COWI and crosses the deep waters of Rombaksfjorden in northern Norway. The bridge will improve road safety, as well as reducing the distance between Narvik and Bjerkvik by 18km. The pre-existing route around Rombaksfjorden is frequently exposed to landslides and the opening of the bridge shortens travel time between Narvik and the airport of Evenes by 20 minutes.

As the project engineer, long-span bridge specialist COWI provided the basic and detailed design for the bridge. The architect for the project was Dissing+Weitling architecture.

Located inside the Arctic Circle, the bridge features two 179m A-shaped towers. Poul Ove Jensen, director of Bridges at Dissing+Weitling, commented: “The bridge is located in a dramatic and magnificent scenery and for this reason, it has been our goal to design the bridge in respect of the natural surroundings. The anchor blocks are recessed in the hills and the only visible parts are the large concrete cones that receives the cable. Even the colours for the bridge are in harmony with the landscape's colours.”

COWI chief project manager Erik Sundet commented: “Opportunities to work on projects like this come very rarely for an engineer – and when they do, they block your calendar for so many years that you do not have time for many other projects on the same scale."

have collaborated on several projects including the Stonecutters Bridge in Hong Kong and Denmark’s Great Belt Link. They also worked together on the concept design of the Bjørnafjord Bridge, a multispan floating bridge which plans to use technology from the offshore industry to cross another deep – and wide – Norwegian fjord, the Bjørnafjorden.

Road Structures

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Liebherr cranes on the Rader
    December 10, 2024
    Germany’s Rader High Bridge spanning the Kiel Canal along Germany’s A7 motorway is to be replaced and widened over the next few years. Eighteen Liebherr cranes are handling the lifting.
    Read More
  • Micro surfacing the Brooklyn Bridge with Bergkamps’ M210 paver
    May 16, 2018
    A major job for micro surfacing took place on the Brooklyn Bridge near New York. It was the third time in Ken Messina’s career that he would provide micro surfacing for the iconic Brooklyn Bridge, built in 1883. Messina, as president of New Jersey-based Asphalt Paving Systems (APS), knew only too well the challenges that lay ahead. And there were many. There would be only a brief window of opportunity for paving, with lane closures starting at 10pm and ending at 5am. The cool, humid atmosphere would a
    Read More
  • Norway’s Nye Veier will tender 23km of motorway
    May 7, 2019
    Norwegian state-owned road developer Nye Veier has announced the tendering of a 23km four-lane motorway between Roterud and Storhove along Lake Mjøsa. Mjøsa, Norway's largest lake as well as one of the deepest in all Europe is located in the southern part of the country and about 100km north of the capital Oslo. It is around 117km long and at its widest is 15km. More than 4km of the €388 million project will be a tunnel. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2021. The stretch of road is as part of
    Read More
  • Barge-mounted Manitowoc MLC300 lists Illinois bridge into place
    June 28, 2018
    The reduced footprint and floating counterweight meant that it is much more efficient for contractors to barge-mount a crawler crane. The crane can be on smaller water-based barges because the machine automatically adjusts its centre of gravity for each lift. Kraemer North America recently used an MLC300 to help replace an 84-year-old truss bridge, the 756m Savanna-Sabula Bridge near Savanna, in the US state of Illinois. The Savanna–Sabula Bridge was a truss bridge and causeway crossing the Mississippi Ri
    Read More

Highlighted Content