Great Belt Fixed Link
Connecting the Danish islands of Zealand and Funen is the Great Belt Fixed Link, another example of a confusing bridge / tunnel mash-up1.
Starting on Funen at the Western end we have a 6611m bridge that carries both road and rail.
This bridge then abruptly ends at the tiny island of Sprogø, the site of a former prison used for women deemed “pathologically promiscuous”! During the bridge’s construction Sprogø’s landmass was quadrupled in size.
Here the road and rail tracks diverge, with the rail track diving under a tunnel to the North, while the road continues along the 6790m Eastern bridge.
This Eastern bridge has a single suspended span (without ground support) of 1624m, making it the second longest suspended span in the world. It would actually have been the title holder, at least temporarily, but for a delay in construction which meant that the longer-spanned Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge was completed first.
Prior to the construction of both the Great Belt and Akashi-Kaikyo bridges, the longest span title was held by the Humber Bridge in England, wich reigned from its construction in 1981 until 1998.
Everyone’s favourite Humber fact is that the perfectly vertical towers are actually 36mm2 further apart at the top than they are at the bottom, due to the curvature of the earth!
Wikipedia has the complete list of largest suspension bridges and pages on the Great Belt, Sprogø and the Humber Bridge.
Thanks to Jonathan Rawle, Tobias Hader and Cyan
-
Also see the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel and Oresund Bridge ↩
-
Depending on who’s telling you the fact this distance can be anything up to 36 metres! ↩
The Humber Bride - like it!
Typo? What typo? *whistles*
Favourite fact about the Great Belt bridge: at 254 metres, the tops of the towers are the highest points in Denmark (not just the highest man-made ones!)
And here is a train on the tracks
Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth
Little off topic, but how does the hi res to low res work? Is it just a blending of the colors of the hi res and low res images - are hi res images shot of only such a specific area as the bridge, or do the Google People choose what to blur out…? This is one of the worst comments I’ve posted and I’m almost not going to press the Submit button….
There’s a particularly uninspired crop circle on one side of this:
Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth
Sorry - three posts in a row, but I loved this stranded boat like thing two or three fields to the North - any ideas?
Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth
Ben: Crop circle…or…world’s largest rubber band?!!
Excellent radial farming pattern/ massive dart board just to the east of the big rubber band (which actually looks more like a washer or a gasket……….perhaps from the worlds biggest washing machine?)
Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth
Maybe I’m just not being persistent today - but where does the rail tunnel emerge?
It’s interesting seeing how people rate the different sights on here. A strange circle of people followed by some bridges. Personally, while the facts about the bridges are slightly interesting, I don’t consider it nearly as good a find as a big circle of people. Yet they both have about the same rating. While I concede that is is all personal preference and everyone has a right to their own opinion… I can’t help thinking that anyone who rated the bridges the same or better than the circle of people is wrong! There. I’ve said it.
How can a bunch of churchgoers in a run-down neighbourhood of Fake Vegas compare to one of the greatest technological achievements of mankind in our time? There, I’ve said it.
OK, but I’ll find you a hundred bridges for every hand-holding circle of religious nuts that you find for me. That’s what makes it a more interesting sight.
@ Timhog:
I’m guessing this is it:
Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth
I wonder why the rail couldn’t be combined with this bridge…
@Timhog: check the map view (not the hybrid) - it shows the route of the tunnel!
@koen: suspension bridges (particularly those with lightweight, aerodynamic decks) are often considered unsuitable for carrying rail traffic due to the uneven weight distribution when a train crosses.
@julian: Let’s face it, everybody can go outside, form a circle, and wait until a satellite passes over ( Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth )
Whether they can build a bridge over the Great Belt, is a different question.
On the subjectof ratings - I personally find all planes, trains and boat sightings the most uninteresting, but equally a great structure or a unidentified group of individuals draws my attention. I can’t draw myself to click-through the transport stuff. But something Southern European would be due soon guys…