Four new bridges have been opened on Route 1 south of Vatnajökull. These are the bridges over Steinavötn and the rivers Fellsá, Kvíá and Brunná. The tender for their construction was announced two years ago.
They will replace four single-lane bridges. So now in Iceland, the number of single-lane bridges will decrease to 32. In the next few years after completion of works on Jökulsá á Sólheimasandur, thanks to the new bridges over Núpsvötn and Hverfisfljót, the number of single-lane bridges will drop to 29. When road 1 is shifted and shortened thanks to the new bridge over Hornafjarðarfljót, this number will be reduced by another three.
In recent years, efforts have been made to reduce the number of single-lane bridges in the country. In 1990, there were about 140 on the main road around Iceland, in 2006 about 60, and in 2011 – 42.
The largest number of single-lane bridges are in eastern Iceland, as many as 26, but if everything goes according to plan, their number in 2024 may be reduced to 19. There are only two such single-span bridges in the north, and four in the south.
The planned cost of building new bridges in the coming years is to amount to a total of CZK 6 billion.
Source: Yle