The bridge over the Great Belt
The crossing of the Great Belt consists of the 6,611 m long West Bridge from Sprogø to Fünen, which was completed in 1994, and the 6,790 m long East Bridge from Zealand to Sprogø, which was built by Wayss & Freytag in a joint venture. The construction costs of approx. 2.9 billion Euro will be amortised by toll revenues over the next 30 years. The Stœrebelt crossing was opened to traffic in a grand ceremony on June 14, 1998 by the Danish Queen Margarethe.
At the time of its completion, the East Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world. The free span between the 254 m high pylons – the highest structures in Denmark – was 1,624 m. The superstructure of the bridge is held by two ropes with Ø 83 cm, which are anchored in 63 m high blocks of reinforced concrete. The caissons for the foundation of the pylons and the anchoring blocks were prefabricated in Kalundborg and transported to the bridge by seagoing tugs. When positioning them a tolerance of 200 mm had to be adhered to.