The New Little Belt Bridge

The new bridge was built to ease traffic pressure on the first Little Belt Bridge. MT Højgaard was involved in the construction of both bridges.

The first Little Belt Bridge is a combined road and railway bridge. We were involved in building the bridge, which we handed over to the Danish State Railways in 1935.

30 years later, in 1965, the contract for the new suspension bridge across the Danish strait, The Little Belt, was also awarded to us, comprising delivery and erection of all structural steel and cables. It was built to ease traffic pressure on the other bridge.

The suspension bridge was the first bridge of this type in Denmark, and with a main span of 600 metres it was also the longest in Scandinavia at the time.

Industrialized bridge construction

The bridge girder is designed as a streamlined box section - and it was only the second of its kind. The new box girder construction was very favourable for shipbuilding techniques, the adaption of which led to industrialized bridge construction.

Erection work considered afresh

In the project it was decided that all traditional erection work procedures should be considered afresh. A great deal of work was put into the design of the erection equipment, as well as the design and description of procedures. We carried out many experiments, both full-size and using models.

As a result, many modern erection methods were developed and utilized for future bridge contracts.