Oresund Bridge
The Oresund Bridge (joint Danish/Swedish hybrid name: Øresundsbron) is a combined two-track rail and four-lane road bridge across the Oresund strait. It connects the two metropolitan areas of the Oresund Region, the Danish capital of Copenhagen with the Swedish city of Malmö.
The last section was put down on August 14, 1999. Danish Heir Apparent Frederik and his Swedish counterpart Victoria met midway to celebrate its completion. The official inauguration took place on July 1, 2000, with Danish Queen Margrethe II and her Swedish counterpart King Carl XVI Gustaf. The bridge was opened for traffic later that day and the public transport by rail is operated jointly by Swedish SJ and Danish DSB. Before the inauguration 79,871 runners competed in a half distance marathon (Broloppet, the Bridge Run) from Amager (in Denmark) to Scania (in Sweden) on June 12, 2000.
The bridge has one of the longest cable-stayed main spans in the world, 490 metres. The height of the highest pillar are 204 metres. The total length of the bridge is 7,845 meters, which is approximately half the distance between the Swedish and Danish landmasses, and it's weight is 82 million kilograms. The rest of the distance is spanned by the artificial "Pepper" islet ("Peberholm"/"Pepparholmen") (4,055 m), (named as a counterpart to the already existing "Saltholm" islet) followed by a tunnel (3,510 m) on the Danish side. The two rail-tracks are beneath the four road lanes. The bridge has a vertical clearance of 57 metres, although most boat traffic across Oresund still passes over the Drogden strait (that is, above where the tunnel lies).
Instead of calling the bridge "Øresundsbroen" in Danish and "Öresundsbron" in Swedish, a compromise was made and the bridge was baptized "Øresundsbron" as the official name, although the Swedish spelling remain common in everyday usage in Sweden.
