Öresund Bridge

Lund \| Malmö \| Öresund Bridge \| Skåne
The completion of the Oresund Bridge (Öresundsbro in Swedish) in 2000 marked a major milestone for Swedish integration into Europe. Already a member of the European Union on paper, they were now physically linked by a road and rail bridge. The bridge has had a significant effect on the regional economies of both Sweden and Denmark with many now commuting daily; traffic has quadrupled since completion of the link. With a depressingly typical Swedish neurotic response to this new found connection to their neighbours, a dramatic impact on their ability to transport people and goods without the frustrating delays of ferry transport, they produced a report in 2009 bemoaning the fact that it was likely they would face rush hour congestion by 2018! You just can't win! However, the bridge is an elegant engineering masterpiece actually comprising a bridge and a tunnel, the latter allowing unimpeded access to the Baltic Sea for even the largest vessels. It is a trifle disconcerting when viewed from the air, that cars on the bridge appear to suddenly plummet into the sea!