Øresund Bridge

A strait is a narrow stretch of sea between two pieces of land.

The Øresund Bridge crosses a strait between Denmark and Sweden. People drive or ride the train to get from one country to the other.

The Øresund is a strait, a narrow stretch of sea, between Denmark and Sweden in northern Europe. Since July 1, 2000, the Øresund Link has joined the two countries, so people can cross by car or train at any time of day or night, all year round.

The link is 15.9 kilometers long. It has three parts: about 8 kilometers of bridge, a 4-kilometer artificial island and about 4 kilometers of tunnel. The bridge has two decks: a four-lane motorway on top and a double-track railway underneath.

The Øresund Link, inaugurated on July 1, 2000, connects the Danish and Swedish sides of the strait with a combined road and rail crossing of 15.9 km. The operator gives its parts as the bridge (7,845 m), the artificial island of Peberholm (4,055 m) and the tunnel (4,050 m), and its construction cost as 30.1 billion Danish kroner at 2000 prices.

The bridge carries a four-lane motorway with shoulders on its upper deck and a double-track railway on its lower deck. It has three sections: a west approach bridge of 3,014 m from Peberholm, the 1,092 m high bridge over the Flintrännan navigation channel, and an east approach bridge of 3,739 m to Lernacken on the Swedish coast.

The new island is called Peberholm.

Nobody planted anything there. Plants and birds came all by themselves, and now the island is green!

Peberholm was made from material dredged up while digging the trench for the tunnel, about 9 million cubic meters of it, and it is edged with stone banks. No soil was brought from the mainland, and nothing was planted. The builders let plants and animals arrive on their own from Denmark and Sweden.

It worked. The bare island turned green, and about 600 kinds of plants are estimated to grow there, with about 30 kinds of birds nesting each year. Since 2000 it has been a protected Natura 2000 site.

Peberholm, 130 hectares, was built in 1995–1999 from about 9 million m³ of dredged material from the tunnel trench, inside stone embankments of about 2 million m³. Its name refers to Saltholm, the natural island to its north. Nothing was planted and no mainland soil added: the consortium left the island bare so species could colonize it naturally from either country, which the operator calls an exciting natural experiment.

The island has been a Natura 2000 site since 2000; the operator estimates about 600 plant species and some 30 nesting bird species a year. After surveys around the 20th anniversary in 2020 showed declines in species of open, sunny ground, shrubs and small trees are now cleared on about 10% of the island. Since spring 2023, 10,000 m² of solar panels on Peberholm, with 3,000 m² at the toll station, supply nearly half the link's electricity.

In the photo, the bridge curves across the blue sea.

On the right is the long green island. Far away is the coast of Sweden.

Today the Øresund Link is part of everyday life for thousands of people on both sides of the strait, who use it for jobs, school, business and culture. Cars pay a toll to cross.

The photo was taken from a plane leaving Copenhagen Airport. The bridge curves away across the water toward Sweden, its four pylons standing up in the middle. In front is Peberholm, where the road and railway run along the island toward the tunnel.

The operator describes the link as part of the everyday lives of thousands on both sides of the Øresund, connecting people to jobs, businesses, education and culture, with a round-the-clock flow of road and rail traffic. Its toll station and island solar parks now supply nearly half of the link's electricity.

The photo, taken in September 2015 from an aircraft departing Copenhagen Airport, looks east: Peberholm in the foreground with the motorway and railway running along it, the west approach bridge curving away, the four pylons of the high bridge, and the Swedish coast on the horizon.