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Norwegian engineers' ambitious floating highway project promises to revolutionize global infrastructure.
You won't believe what the engineers from Norway are planning! A $47 billion floating highway that even left China open-mouthed. The coastal area of Norway is home to some of the most stunning landscapes on the planet, mostly made up of fjords — large inlets of sea between high rocky mountains created by the erosion caused by the ice of ancient glaciers. The country has more than 1.000 fjords, and the largest of them is about 200 km long and more than 1 km deep.
With such a large amount of landscapes, the route through eastern Norway, on the E39 highway, is quite complicated. Its 1.100 km long route would normally take 14 hours, but due to the fjords, this time increases by 50%, or 21 hours. Therefore, the Norwegian government is taking action to improve this access, implementing the country's largest infrastructure plan which will transform the E39 into a single road.
Floating highway in Norway will change everything
The engineers of Norway are planning to completely eliminate the use of ferries on the E39, building a large sequence of bridges across each of these landscapes. Because the fjords are too wide and deep to accommodate traditional infrastructure such as simple bridges or underground tunnels, new innovative solutions have been developed.
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Rogfast Project
The Rogfast project is the first in a series of junctions that will connect the E39 to Stavanger via a 27km undersea tunnel, in a structure up to 390 metres deep. This would make it both the deepest and largest road tunnel on the planet. This monumental work is scheduled to be completed by 2026, costing US$2 billion.
While the Rogfast project is already underway, other plans are posing an even greater challenge for engineering developers. South of the city of Bergen, there is a fjord called Bjørnafjorden, up to 10 km wide and, in a narrower section, 5 km wide and reaching 600 meters deep. A proposal has been made a floating bridge anchored to the shore at its ends to cross it.
Floating and submerged tunnel
The Sula Fjorden crossing has received two possible ideas for a solution. The first is a suspension bridge with three towers in a row, one in the middle connected to the seabed at a depth of about 400 meters below the waterline, and two at the ends anchored to the coast. The other alternative idea would be precisely a floating, submerged tunnel, with two tubes next to each other, connected to the seabed by highly resistant wires.
All of these projects are impressive enough, but even more complex and ambitious is the coastal crossing in Sognefjord, simply the largest and deepest fjord in Norway and Europe. At over 200 km long, 3,7 km wide and 1,3 km deep at its lowest point, the “king of the fjords” presents a huge challenge to Norway’s engineers. They must take into account in their calculations the enormous number of ships that pass through the fjord regularly.
To work out a final solution, planners are considering several crossings for this fjord:
- An ordinary suspension bridge 3.700 m long, which would require towers almost 500 meters high.
- A floating bridge, which would require adjustments each time a large vessel arrived, delaying the cars' journey.
- A floating, submerged tunnel, supported by floating blocks that would allow ships to pass over it without interference.
- A hybrid proposal, combining a floating bridge with a floating and submerged tunnel, creating the first structure of its kind in the world.
- A cable-stayed bridge with several spans, consisting of four floating pillars tied to the seabed, as is already done on oil platforms.
The $47 billion floating highway is set to become a new benchmark in engineering capabilities and a blueprint for future infrastructure planning around the world. With environmental and safety concerns paramount to engineers, this vast project is making considerable progress and is expected to be completed by 2035.
But will this ambitious project be able to overcome all the challenges and truly transform the way we build roads? Let us know what you think in the comments!
Norway is naturally a beautiful country with a wonderful climate for those who love the cold, which is my case. I believe that any form of construction that serves primarily to preserve nature is commendable. Congratulations to the engineers and to Norway for this excellent initiative!
Today, nothing is IMPOSSIBLE FOR HUMANITY.
ALWAYS PRESERVING NATURE.
Congratulations to the Masters of Engineering from Norway.