The Largest Bridge in the World

29 August 2006


Three times every cruise we go under the world’s largest suspension bridge, which is in Denmark of all places. The bridge covers 11 miles. Before that, there are several small causeways spanning a series of islands.
It’s a tight fit, getting our 16 decks under the bridge, Here’s a shot I took of the looming bridge with a schooner, one of the training ships that we see here all the time, making it with plenty to spare.

I was on deck 15, the open deck beneath Skywalkers, where thr improbable DJ “spins your favorite records ‘til the wee hours.” (Yeah, as if all these old folks would be caught dead in a disco. The original and still official name of the place is Skwalkers Night Club.)

It’s a little hard to see from these pictures, but the bottom of the bridge is maybe 50 feet from collision with our communication towers. (The raindrops on the lens don’t do much good for the perspective either.)



The lower level of this bridge, I am told, is a completely enclosed railbed. Yes, there are trains running below the cars which you can’t see. It costs about $35 US to cross the bridge, and some wag in Danish Bridges figured out that the bridge links up the Baltic countries to the extent that travel through to Asia is theoretically possible. It supplements several ferry routes which we see criss-crossing between cities in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Stout vessels, built for the vagaries of uncertain weather. I have no idea what to compare them with in terms of their load factor, but they always seem to still have vehicles and trucks and people on them. The bridge at best seems to have half its potential capacity.

I guess the real point in this is that the comparison of our mass with that of the schooner in the first frame is pretty apt. We are, by comparison, huge, massive. As Dave Cutler told me the other night, we are one of the largest moving objects ever built by men (and Italian men at that, union men). I’d qualify that by adding the modifier “civilian”, although sometimes I wonder if there’s a difference.

We slide under the bridge today around lunchtime. If the weather’s cooperating I’ll try to get some more and maybe even better shots of it.