Solnabron
Encyclopedia
Viaduct
A viaduct is a bridge composed of several small spans. The term viaduct is derived from the Latin via for road and ducere to lead something. However, the Ancient Romans did not use that term per se; it is a modern derivation from an analogy with aqueduct. Like the Roman aqueducts, many early...
in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. Spanning the Norra Station area and the Norra länken
Norra länken
Norra länken is a motorway in Stockholm, Sweden, between Norrtull and Karlberg, where it connects to Essingeleden. The road is part of European route E4 and E20 and the incomplete Stockholm ring road....
motorway, it links the municipalities of Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
and Solna
Solna Municipality
Solna Municipality is a municipality in Stockholm County in east central Sweden, located just north of the capital Stockholm. Its seat is located in the 'city' of Solna....
.
When inaugurated in 1942, the bridge opened an important new connection between the two municipalities, just as the hospital and scientific institutions were being collocated with what is today the Karolinska University Hospital
Karolinska University Hospital
The Karolinska University Hospital is a university hospital in Stockholm, Sweden, with two major sites in the municipalities of Huddinge and Solna....
, to the north of the bridge.
The viaduct is 230 metres long and 27 metres wide; the roadway is made of a reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete is concrete in which reinforcement bars , reinforcement grids, plates or fibers have been incorporated to strengthen the concrete in tension. It was invented by French gardener Joseph Monier in 1849 and patented in 1867. The term Ferro Concrete refers only to concrete that is...
floor resting on welded iron girder
Girder
A girder is a support beam used in construction. Girders often have an I-beam cross section for strength, but may also have a box shape, Z shape or other forms. Girder is the term used to denote the main horizontal support of a structure which supports smaller beams...
s passing over column
Column
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. For the purpose of wind or earthquake engineering, columns may be designed to resist lateral forces...
s pinned at both ends.
During the negotiations preceding the construction, the Swedish State Railway
Statens Järnvägar
The Swedish State Railways or SJ, originally the Royal Railway Board , is a former government agency responsible for operating the state railways in Sweden....
, owner of the rail yard
Rail yard
A rail yard, or railroad yard, is a complex series of railroad tracks for storing, sorting, or loading/unloading, railroad cars and/or locomotives. Railroad yards have many tracks in parallel for keeping rolling stock stored off the mainline, so that they do not obstruct the flow of traffic....
under the bridge, urged that the columns be movable, which would allow the yard to maintain the option of rearranging tracks, as needed. While the bridge was indeed built with movable pillars, the option has never been exercised.