The Danish Road Directorate is building a new 4 kilometres-long bridge linking Zealand and Falster via Masnedø, the Storstrømsbroen.

The Storstrøm bridge will be Denmark‘s third largest bridge after the Øresund Bridge and the Storebælt Bridge. The connection is of great regional importance and is also an important part of the rail corridor between Copenhagen and Germany. Once completed, it will have an electrified two-track railway built at 200 km/h and a two-track road at 80 km/h. The bridge will also have a footpath and cycle path.

The bridge is expected to be ready for car traffic in 2025 and for rail traffic in 2027. When the new Storstrøm Bridge is ready, work will begin on demolishing the old bridge. The total cost of the project to demolish the existing Storstrøm bridge is approximately DKK 4.1 billion, or approximately 551.2 million euros. Until then, the old bridge will remain open to traffic. The total cost of the project is approximately 278 million euros.

Construction work

The Italian joint venture, SBJV, between Itinera, Grandi Lavori Fincosit, and Condotte, is building the bridge for the Danish state. The technically complicated operation of sailing the first prefabricated bridge girder out into Storstrømmen and hoisting it up on two piers for the new Storstrøm Bridge has now begun. Tugboats pulled a barge loaded with the 73-metre-long bridge girder to the two piers, over the course of two hours.

Following this, the barge will be anchored between the piers. The lifting arms are prepared, and lifting wires are attached to the arms. The bridge girder can then be hoisted up with a custom-built hoist. Finally, the bridge girder is put in place using special guide brackets. When the bridge girder is in place, a large working scaffolding can be mounted to be able to cast the bridge girder together with the special element on top of the piers.