The Öresund bridge was the only known connection to the continent and the Silent Lands in it. The bridge is now destroyed, with only the tunnel part still intact.
The actual terms are "Öresundsbron" in Swedish and "Øresundsbroen" in Danish. In pre-Rash times, a hybrid term "Øresundsbron" was coined and used; however, the post-Rash Swedes keep calling it "the Öresund bridge" in the comic, so the hybrid term seems to have fallen into disuse. (We haven't "heard" a Dane refer to the bridge by name so far, only the radio operator speaking of the "Øresund base".)
Overall Structure[]
In spite of the literal meaning, the term "Öresund bridge" is commonly used to refer to the entire ensemble of three constructs: The actual bridge, which starts on the Swedish coast and spans the eastern half of the namesake Öresund strait; the Drogden Tunnel, with its western entry on the Danish island of Amager and running under the Öresunds western half (also called the Drogden Strait); and the artificial Peberholm island, on which the former two connect.
The bridge has two levels, the actual concrete deck (originally for four-lane car traffic) and a steel girderwork (originally with two railroad tracks) underneath. In the tunnel, all traffic runs through four tubes - one per mode and direction - placed side by side. Most of the bridge's length rests on concrete pillars, only the center part is cable-stayed with pylons reaching above the deck to provide more width and headroom for ships passing underneath.
One of the main reasons not to build a bridge all the way through was to not obstruct the airspace at the Danish end, which is next to the Copenhagen airport. Also, aspects of ship traffic in bad weather - in terms of visibility of obstacles like the bridge's pillars, as well as ice floes possibly accumulating around them - played a role.
Pre-Rash History[]
The Öresund bridge was erected 1995-1999 to connect the cities of Copenhagen, capital of Denmark, and Malmö, in Sweden. It was operated as a toll road, with a single toll station placed at the Swedish end.
Traffic on the bridge initially did not rise to the levels anticipated, but picked up considerably when Danes started to take cheap residence around Malmö and commute to Copenhagen.
Post-Rash History[]
The post-Rash Danes are well-known for their desire to reconquer the lands that used to make up Denmark before the Illness. Apparently unable to secure a usable base of operations on Jutland or a smaller island of their old territory, they now run the Öresundsbro Base, a settlement built from repurposed oil rigs at the formerly Swedish end of the bridge. The bridge thus must have played an integral role in the reconquering attempts that happened before the actual story arc.
In the year 90, the expedition staffed with the main characters is sent into the Silent World over the Öresund bridge as well. The street deck and the support of the cable-stayed part are in pretty bad shape as they set out, to the point of the latter pretty much collapsing under the weight of their vehicle; the state of the pillars, the girderwork, and the railroad tracks therein remains unknown.
The tunnel is partially flooded, but that seems to be normal operation between the yearly maintenance of "the gate on the other end", as Mikkel remarks on arc 1 page 203
. Said gate seems to be a heavy double wing door, the wings being operated by chains and cogs, and fold-down impact-preventing bollards keep vehicles away from the actual doors.
Outside the gate, at the very end of the tunnel's roofing, four or more cannon turrets had been installed - and destroyed, probably in the "great defeat of Kastrup" - the nearby suburb of Copenhagen. (Note that in reality, the cover above the car lanes is just a series of single beams probably unable to bear more of a load than the sunscreen mesh it holds, much less a firing cannon.)
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| The Known World Countries: Denmark (capital: Rønne) - Finland (Saimaa) - Iceland (Reykjavík) - Norway (Aurland) - Sweden (Mora) (See the countries' individual pages for a more extensive list of their settlements.) Other: Öresund Bridge - Shetland and various other small islands The Silent World |