Stord Bridge

The project was resisted both by local environmental groups and the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, the latter because the new plans would delay completion.

In 1973, the municipal councils of Bømlo, Stord and Fitjar decided to launch a planning process, which concluded that a pontoon bridge between Sørstokken and Foldrøyholmen would be optimal.

Thus, the plans for a bridge crossing Stokksundet were again raised in 1982, this time by the industry on Bømlo, who would have to travel by ferry to reach the new airport.

[4] The Norwegian Civil Aviation Administration protested against a possible suspension bridge near the airport, but stated that one further away would be fine.

Based on it and other feedback, the agency stated that it preferred a pontoon bridge between Foldrøyholmen and Sørstokken, north of the ferry between Bømlo and Stord.

[7] SBT changed its name to Sunnhordland Bru- og Tunnelselskap, and a majority of the board shifted towards being in favor of a fixed link.

[9] On 26 June 1987, SBT decided to work towards permission to collect advanced tolls on the ferry services.

[10] The board unanimously supported the triangular proposal on 16 September, which was estimated to cost NOK 660 million.

[11] This was criticized by Hordaland Public Roads Administration, who stated that it would take longer time to plan, and thus complete, the Triangle Link.

[14] Gisle Tjong stated that the risk in the project was large and that it was uncertain how long the tolls would last: they could just as well be 60 as 15 years.

[16][17] Hordaland Public Roads Administration still supported a pontoon bridge, and stated that two and a half years of work on a master plan had been wasted.

[20] On 10 December 1992, Parliament approved advanced payment of tolls on the ferry, which were made effective from 1 January 1993.

[20] In May, SBT proposed building a culvert on Digernes as a compromise to avoid a new plan which could have postponed the project several years.

[22] The original name proposal for the bridge was Stordbrua; this was later changed to Stordabrua after input from the municipal councils and name committees.

[24] The cables were spun on-site using a reel because of the problems which had arisen using a bundle on the Great Belt Bridge in Denmark.

The two bridges were the first time that on-site spinning was chosen in Norway, and it gave a cost saving of NOK 10 to 11 million.

[26] The fastening poles were delivered five weeks after schedule; a new mounting method was developed which allowed them to be installed in a quarter of the time, in part by using a helicopter, and the whole five-week delay was eradicated.

There arose problems with small holes being created in the coating; as these had also been found on the Great Belt Bridge, it was decided that nothing would be done with the issue.

[30] They were mounted using the crane ship Uglen, allowing up to nine and an average of four sections to be installed per day[31] and completed in June 2000.

It carries two lanes of European route E39 and a combined pedestrian and bicycle path across Digernessundet, connecting the islands of Stord and Føyno.

A map of the Triangle Link and the ferry services it replaced
The bridge deck
The bridge looking towards Stord
The bridge with Føyno to the right