The Kristiansund Mainland Connection ( or abbreviated ''Krifast'') is a road system consisting of the

European route E39 European route E39 is the designation of a north–south road in Norway and Denmark from Klett, just south of Trondheim (city), Trondheim, to Aalborg via Bergen, Stavanger and Kristiansand. In total, there are nine ferries, more than any other ...

highway and

Norwegian National Road 70 National Road 70 () is a long national highway that runs from the town of Kristiansund in Kristiansund Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county and the village of Oppdal in Oppdal Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The road starts in ...

that connects

Kristiansund Municipality Kristiansund (, ; historically spelled Christianssund and earlier named Fosna) is a municipality on the western coast of Norway in the Nordmøre district of Møre og Romsdal county. The administrative center of the municipality is the town of K ...

to the neighboring islands of

Frei Frei may refer to: People * Frei family, a Chilean family formed by the descendants of Swiss Eduardo Frei Schlinz and Chilean Victoria Montalva Martínez * Frei (surname), a surname * Frei Otto, German architect Places Brazil * Frei Gaspar, a ...

, Bergsøya, and Aspøya and then to the mainland of

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. Krifast opened in 1992 and consists of of road and of bicycle paths. The three main structures are the undersea Freifjord Tunnel, the Gjemnessund Bridge, and the

Bergsøysund Bridge The Bergsøysund Bridge () is a pontoon bridge that crosses the Bergsøysundet strait between the islands of Aspøya, Tingvoll, Aspøya (in Tingvoll Municipality) and Bergsøya, Gjemnes, Bergsøya (in Gjemnes Municipality) in Møre og Romsdal coun ...

. The Straumsund Bridge is also part of the network. Krifast large

A total of seven bridges are part of the ''Krifast'' system, the most famous one being the

suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck (bridge), deck is hung below suspension wire rope, cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridg ...

Gjemnessund Bridge from the island of Bergsøya to the mainland of

Gjemnes Municipality Gjemnes is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway on the Romsdal peninsula. It is part of the Nordmøre region. The administrative centre is the village of Batnfjordsøra, which lies along the Batnfjorden and it is a former steamship ...

, with high towers and a span between them of . There is also the long

pontoon bridge A pontoon bridge (or ponton bridge), also known as a floating bridge, is a bridge that uses float (nautical), floats or shallow-draft (hull), draft boats to support a continuous deck for pedestrian and vehicle travel. The buoyancy of the support ...

called the

which goes between the islands of Bergsøya and Aspøya, which is the only bridge of its kind where nothing but the ends are anchored to solid rock. The bridge is supported by 7 pontoons, floating on a deep

fjord In physical geography, a fjord (also spelled fiord in New Zealand English; ) is a long, narrow sea inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Antarctica, the Arctic, and surrounding landmasses of the n ...

. The long underwater Freifjord Tunnel goes under the Freifjorden. It is reaches a depth of below sea level at its deepest point, though the bottom of the tunnel is in solid rock. A drive through the tunnel takes about 5 minutes. Because of the relatively steep climb, there are three lanes at each end, but only two at the bottom. Krifast was authorized by the

Norwegian Parliament The Storting ( ; ) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years based on party-list proportional represe ...

and construction began in October 1988. The government pledged to finance 39% of the expenses, the rest were to be taken in as

toll Toll may refer to: Transportation * Toll (fee) a fee charged for the use of a road or waterway ** Toll road, a type of road which for which payment is required for passage ** Road pricing, the modern practice of charging for road use ** Road to ...

on road traffic and car ferry fares (on the ferries to be discontinued due to the new tunnel and bridges). As of July 1991, the project employed 427 people, and spent daily on construction. Four years and NOK 1.1 billion later, in August 1992, Krifast was opened for regular traffic.

References

{{Bridge–tunnels Roads in Møre og Romsdal Nordmøre Buildings and structures in Kristiansund Gjemnes Former toll roads in Norway Bridge–tunnels in Europe 1992 establishments in Norway European route E39 in Norway Norwegian National Road 70

See also

References