Bridging the gap

connecting people

The road and railway bridge over the Fehmarnsund links the Baltic Sea island of Fehmarn with the mainland. Opened to traffic in 1963, the bridge carries a single railway track and a road with two traffic lanes. The structure is an important symbol of the Ostholstein region and listed as a historical monument. An increase in traffic is predicted to occur due to the Fehmarnbelt Tunnel currently under construction. Structural analysis has shown that the bridge over the Fehmarnsund will not be able to carry the predicted amount of traffic.

paving the way

Various engineering firms were invited to enter a design competition with proposals for the crossing of the Fehmarnsund (bridge or tunnel). In our entry, we proposed separate structures for road and rail traffic. The preservation of the existing bridge needed to be considered from an architectural and technical perspective.

creating construction culture

We chose a cable-stayed bridge as the optimum structure for the project. The intersection angle between the waterways and the structures required bridge span lengths for the railway structure that exceed those of any existing cable-stayed bridge in Germany.