Halogaland Bridge
Norway opens Halogaland suspension bridge for traffic. Credit: TorbjørnS

Norway has opened Halogaland Bridge for traffic after Chinese firm Sichuan Road and Bridge Group (SRBG) completed its construction.

The bridge has a free span of 1,145m, a length of 1,533m and features two towers standing at 172m and 175m respectively.

It is located in the Norwegian port city of Narvik and aims to slash travel distance to nearby Bjerkvik by 18km.

In October 2013, a joint venture (JV) of Sichuan Railway Investment Group affiliate SRBG and Serbian company VNG won the SEK755m ($96m) steel structure contract for the Halogaland Bridge Project.

The contract saw the JV produce all parts and undertake the construction of the project.

“When Batstadtsander Bridge called for bidding, the owner of the Halogaland Bridge recommended us on his own initiative.”

The Northern European Standard compliant bridge faced a number of challenges during the construction phase including extreme weather conditions.

Statens Vegvesen Nord Region (SVV) is the owner of the project.

Nearly 11,000t of steel structural parts were produced in four Chinese factories and then transported to Norway, according to ecns.cn.

SRBG Halogaland Bridge Project head Lu Wei said: “When Batstadtsander Bridge called for bidding, the owner of the Halogaland Bridge recommended us on his own initiative.

“After their visit, they were very satisfied with our construction quality and efficiency and helped us win the bidding for another Norwegian bridge project.”

The Halogaland Bridge project was officially started on 1 June 2015.