The Varodd Bridges are two parallel cantilever bridges in

Kristiansand Kristiansand is a seaside resort city and municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 112,000 as of January 2020, following the incorporation ...

municipality, in Agder county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, and they cross the

Topdalsfjorden Topdalsfjorden or Tofdalsfjorden is a fjord in the municipality of Kristiansand in Agder county, Norway. The long fjord runs from the village of Ålefjær south to the city centre of Kristiansand. The river Topdalselva empties into the fjord at ...

. They are named after the peninsula on the western shore. It goes from Vige and ends in

Søm Søm is a district in the city of Kristiansand in Agder county, Norway. With a population of about 9,500 (2022), it is the third largest district in Kristiansand. The district is a part of the borough of Oddernes. Søm has borders with the distri ...

in Kristiansand. The bridges carry the

European route E18 European route E18 runs from Craigavon in Northern Ireland to Saint Petersburg in Russia, passing through Scotland, England, Norway, Sweden and Finland. It is about in length. Although the designation implies the possibility of a through jour ...

highway over the fjord.

Old Bridge

The Old Varodd Bridge was a former

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 ...

, which opened in 1956. It was a long suspension bridge, with a main span of . The two towers reached above sea level. Before the completion of the second bridge, this was the only bridge crossing Topdalsfjorden, making it a two-lane bridge carrying traffic in both directions. The replacement bridge was built in between the two current bridges and construction began in early 2017. The suspension bridge was demolished and removed in the fall of 2020.

New bridges

The New Varodd Bridge is parallel to the older bridge, and was completed in 1993 at a cost of US$13 million. It is a cantilever bridge with four spans. The main span is and a total length of . The bridge has a clearance below it. The bridge was built solely to relieve the traffic on the older bridge, and the two lanes only handled westbound traffic. Another new cantilever bridge for eastbound traffic is under construction between the old and new Varodd Bridge. It was completed in 2020.Ny Varoddbru skal stå klar i 2020

NRK NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting Aksjeselskap, AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and ...

Gallery

Varoddbrua nov 2020.jpg, The two parallel cantilever bridges in 2020. The former suspension bridge has been removed. Kristiansand, Varoddbroene fra Torsvikveien 04-03.JPG, The old suspension bridge on left, the 1993 bridge on right. Varoddbrua (1962).jpg, The old Varodd Bridge in 1962.

References

{{Authority control Geography of Kristiansand Bridges in Agder Suspension bridges in Norway Bridges completed in 1956 Bridges completed in 1993