Storseisundet Bridge
Interesting facts
- Seen from one approach, the bridge's steep curve hides the far side, so the road appears to end in mid-air; it has been nicknamed the 'drunk bridge'.
- A British newspaper dubbed it 'the road to nowhere' in 2011.
- It was built as a free cantilever in three spans, and with its approach embankments the crossing stretches about 750 metres.
- More than ten car manufacturers have filmed commercials on the Atlantic Ocean Road, using its exposed sea crossings to stage rough weather.
- The entire road, Storseisundet included, cost about 122 million Norwegian kroner, paid half by state grants, a quarter by job-creation funds and a quarter by tolls.
- The tolls were planned to last fifteen years but repaid their share in only ten.
- Its opening in 1989 allowed the Tøvik–Ørjavik car ferry to be withdrawn.
- In 2006 The Guardian named the Atlantic Ocean Road the best road trip in the world.
- In summer 2009 the road counted more than 258,000 visitors in four months, ranking ninth among Norway's natural attractions.
Why it is worth it
The Storseisundet Bridge lifts its deck high above a narrow sound, rising from low causeways laid across bare rocky skerries at the very edge of the ocean. It is the largest of the eight bridges on the Atlantic Ocean Road, the short coastal route on the west coast of Norway that hops from islet to islet across the open edge of the Norwegian Sea.
Storseisundet is a cantilever bridge 260 metres long, with a main span of 130 metres and 23 metres of clearance for boats beneath it. It opened on 7 July 1989 together with the rest of the Atlantic Ocean Road, which runs for about 8.3 kilometres between Kårvåg on the island of Averøya and Vevang on the mainland. The road took six years to build, from August 1983, and during that time the exposed site was hit by twelve severe European windstorms. The boundary between the municipalities of Averøy and Hustadvika runs beneath the bridge.
The project was paid for largely with public money and a quarter by tolls, which were expected to run for fifteen years; traffic proved heavier than forecast, and the tolls were lifted in June 1999. In 2005 the Atlantic Ocean Road was named Norway's Construction of the Century, and it is one of the country's eighteen National Tourist Routes, a designation that continues along the coast from Vevang to the fishing village of Bud. Since 2009 the Atlantic Ocean Tunnel beneath the sea has connected Averøya with Kristiansund, completing a fixed road link along this stretch of coast.
Getting there
The bridge is on road 64 (the Atlantic Ocean Road) between Averøy and Hustadvika in Møre og Romsdal. The nearest town is Molde, about 33 km away; Kristiansund lies to the north via the Atlantic Ocean Tunnel. The nearest airport is Molde Airport, Årø (MOL), about 31 km away.
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
The Storseisundet Bridge is the longest of the eight bridges that make up the Atlanterhavsveien, the road connection from the mainland Romsdal peninsula to the island of Averøya in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway.
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