The Almö Bridge ( sv, Almöbron), inaugurated in 1960, was built to connect the island of

Tjörn Tjörn () is the sixth largest island in Sweden, located on the Swedish West coast in the province of Bohuslän. The area of the island is , and the area of the municipality is . The population, as of 2017, was 15,774 people. Geography Tjörn ...

to the Swedish mainland. Built after a suggestion from

Krupp The Krupp family (see pronunciation), a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, is notable for its production of steel, artillery, ammunition and other armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG (Friedrich Krupp ...

, and on a budget, the arch bridge type was cheap but it also had narrow roadways forcing heavy traffic to slow down. Below it was the busy shipping lane leading to the town of

Uddevalla Uddevalla (old no, Oddevold) is a town and the seat of Uddevalla Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden. In 2015, it had a population of 34 781. It is located at a bay of the south-eastern part of Skagerrak. The beaches of Uddevalla ...

, which sported a large shipyard and bulk harbor at the time.

Collapse

The Almö bridge collapsed at 01:30 AM on 18 January 1980, when the

bulk carrier A bulk carrier or bulker is a merchant ship specially designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo — such as grains, coal, ore, steel coils, and cement — in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrier was built in 1852, ec ...

struck the bridge arch, collapsing the main span. The roadway landed on top of the ship, destroying the ship's bridge but causing no casualties on the ship. The loss of the ship's bridge made radio communication difficult, as the Swedish pilot had to use a handheld VHF radio. Because of the ice the ship was unable to launch a boat to get to shore and warn motorists as a fog was descending on the area. Eight people died that night as they drove over the edge until the road on the Tjörn side was closed 40 minutes after the accident. The mainland side had been closed by a lorry driver who had crept up the bridge in the fog and had grown suspicious when the railing disappeared. He was able to stop his lorry ten meters before the abyss.

The bridge today

The large arch foundations still exist but the bridge was never rebuilt. Instead the

Tjörn Bridge The Tjörn Bridge ( Swedish: ''Tjörnbron'') is a cable-stayed bridge which together with two smaller bridges connects Stenungsund on mainland Sweden with the island Tjörn on the western coast of the country. The length is , the span width is , ...

, a new cable-stayed bridge, was constructed in 17 months and inaugurated the following year. This bridge type eliminated the collision risk that had doomed its predecessor and also had wider lanes for road traffic.

References

Printed Sources

*Brodin, Sune, ''Tjörnbron (Tjörn bridge)'', 1984

Vägverket The Swedish Road Administration ( sv, Vägverket), formerly The Royal Board for Public Road and Water Structures, was a Government agency in Sweden. Its primary responsibility was to organise building and maintenance of the road network in Swede ...

Borlänge,

External links

''Tjörnbrokatastrofen''
(radio documentary in Swedish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Almo Bridge 1980 road incidents Arch bridges Bridges completed in 1960 Bridge disasters caused by collision Bridge disasters in Sweden Former buildings and structures in Sweden Road incidents in Sweden Demolished buildings and structures in Sweden Maritime incidents in Sweden Former bridges 1960 establishments in Sweden