The Little Belt Bridge (Gamle Lillebæltsbro), also known as The Old Little Belt Bridge, is a truss bridge over the Little Belt strait in Denmark. The first bridge to have been constructed over the strait, it spans from Snoghøj on Jutland to Kongebrogaarden on Funen. It is owned by the state and Banedanmark, the Danish railway authority, is responsible for its maintenance. The bridge was the first step in linking the three parts of Denmark by road, with the second step completed with the Great Belt Bridge in June 1998; previously, only boats and later ferries had been used to transport people over the belts.
Construction of the bridge began in 1929 and it was opened for traffic on 14 May 1935. It is 1,178 metres long, 20.5 metres wide and 33 metres high, with a main span of 220 metres. On the bridge there are two railway tracks, two narrow lanes for cars to cross as well as a sidewalk for pedestrians.
When the new Little Belt Bridge came into use in 1970, the bridge lost its function as the main traffic line for cars between Funen and Jutland; however, it is still used as the only railway bridge between Jutland and Funen and thus the only railway line connecting Jutland with Zealand as well, as well as to carry traffic between Fredericia and Middelfart and their neighbouring villages.
Read more about Little Belt Bridge: Construction, Maintenance
Famous quotes containing the words belt and/or bridge:
“The shore is composed of a belt of smooth rounded white stones like paving-stones, excepting one or two short sand beaches, and is so steep that in many places a single leap will carry you into water over your head; and were it not for its remarkable transparency, that would be the last to be seen of its bottom till it rose on the opposite side. Some think it is bottomless.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I see four nuns
who sit like a bridge club,
their faces poked out
from under their habits,”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)