Vigra Fixed Link

Last updated April 15, 2019

The Vigra Fixed Link (Norwegian : Vigrasambandet), also known as the Ålesund Tunnels (Ålesundtunnelene), is a fixed link connecting the archipelago and municipality of Giske and the island of Ellingsøya to the mainland and the island city of Ålesund. It consists of the 3,520-meter (11,550 ft) long Ellingsøy Tunnel between Ålesund and Ellingsøya, the 4,222-meter (13,852 ft) long Valderøy Tunnel connecting the islands of Ellingsøya and Valderøya, the 3,844-meter (12,612 ft) long Godøy Tunnel between the islands of Valderøya and Godøy, and the Giske Bridge from Valderøya to Giske island. Valderøya was already connected by bridge to the island of Vigra, which meant that the fixed link also connected the city of Ålesund to Ålesund Airport, Vigra. The fixed link opened between 1987 and 1989, and was financed as a toll road. The link is part of Norwegian National Road 658 and Norwegian County Road 658.

Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken mainly in Norway, where it is the official language. Along with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a dialect continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional varieties, and some Norwegian and Swedish dialects, in particular, are very close. These Scandinavian languages, together with Faroese and Icelandic as well as some extinct languages, constitute the North Germanic languages. Faroese and Icelandic are hardly mutually intelligible with Norwegian in their spoken form because continental Scandinavian has diverged from them. While the two Germanic languages with the greatest numbers of speakers, English and German, have close similarities with Norwegian, neither is mutually intelligible with it. Norwegian is a descendant of Old Norse, the common language of the Germanic peoples living in Scandinavia during the Viking Era.

An archipelago, sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands.

Giske is an island municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The municipality lies north-northwest of the town of Ålesund in the traditional district of Sunnmøre. The municipal centre is Valderhaugstrand. Other population centres include the villages of Roald and Alnes and Leitebakk. The municipality is part of the Ålesund Region.

History

The two first tunnels, Ellingsøy and Valderøy, and the Giske Bridge were opened by King Olav V on 20 October 1987. The Godøy Tunnel opened two years later. The project was among the first subsea tunnels in Norway.

Olav V was King of Norway from 1957 until his death.

The project cost 780 million kr, all of which was financed by debt taken up by the partially publicly owned company Ålesund og Giske Tunnel- og Brusamband AS. The fixed link received a concession to collect tolls for 22 years. The project was built in a period with much optimism, and the banks were more than willing to lend large sums for the project. However, by the time the project was finished, the interest rate had increased to 16.5%, and the toll company could not pay the interest, let alone the principal sum. By 1990, the company was nearly bankrupt, but was saved by an agreement with the banks. Other factors contributing to the financial problems was the choice late in the project to include the Giske Bridge and Godøy Tunnel, as well as lower traffic than estimated.^[1]

When the tolls were removed on 25 October 2009, drivers had paid 1.37 billion kr, while the company still had 1.38 billion kr in outstanding debt. As the tunnels are owned by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, the concession has run out, and the company has no assets, the debt capital is lost for the banks. The financial difficulties was one of the main reasons that Sunnmørsbanken went bankrupt in the early 1990s. Other banks that have lost capital include Bankenes Sikringsfond, DnB NOR, Nordea, Fokus Bank, Sparebanken Møre and Ørsta Sparebank. An upgrade in 2008 and 2009 of the Ellingsøy and Valderøy tunnels was completed on 10 October 2009. The upgrades cost 448 million kr, which included better fire protection. During parts of the reconstruction, the tunnels were closed and a ferry was put into service from Ålesund to Valderøya and Ellingsøya.^[1]

The Norwegian Public Roads Administration is a Norwegian government agency responsible for national and county public roads in Norway. This includes planning, construction and operation of the national and county road networks, driver training and licensing, vehicle inspection, and subsidies to car ferries.

Nordea Bank Abp, commonly referred to as Nordea, is a Nordic financial services group operating in northern Europe and based in Helsinki, Finland. The bank is the result of the successive mergers and acquisitions of the Finnish, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish banks of Merita Bank, Unibank, Kreditkassen and Nordbanken that took place between 1997 and 2000. The Baltic states are today also considered part of the home market. The largest shareholder of Nordea is Sampo, a Finnish insurance company with around 20% of the shares. Nordea is listed on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange, Helsinki Stock Exchange and Stockholm Stock Exchange.

Sparebanken Møre is a Norwegian savings bank, headquartered in Ålesund, Norway. The banks main market is Møre og Romsdal. The bank was established when several savings banks in Møre og Romsdal merged.

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The Sotra Bridge is a suspension bridge which crosses Knarreviksundet between Knarrevik in Fjell and Drotningsvik on the mainland of Bergen in Hordaland, Norway. It carries two road lanes and two narrow pedestrian paths of National Road 555, providing a fixed link for the archipelago of Sotra. The bridge is 1,236 metres (4,055 ft) long, has a main span of 468 metres (1,535 ft) and a clearance of 50 metres (160 ft). In 2007, it had an average 25,494 vehicles per day.

The Giske Bridge is a concrete beam bridge between the islands of Valderøya and Giske in Giske Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The bridge is 552 metres (1,811 ft) long, the longest span is 52 metres (171 ft), and the maximum clearance to the sea is 17 metres (56 ft). The bridge has 11 spans.

Hoffland or Hovland is a village in Ålesund Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The village is located on the western end of the island of Ellingsøya, about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) northeast of the town of Ålesund and about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) west of the village of Myklebost.

Ålesund Airport, Vigra is an international airport serving the town of Ålesund, Norway. It is located on the island of Vigra in Giske and features a 2,314-meter (7,592 ft) runway aligned 07/25. The airport served 1,077,209 passengers in 2013, making it the tenth-busiest airport in the country. Scheduled services are provided domestically to Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim by Scandinavian Airlines (SAS)¸ Norwegian Air Shuttle and Widerøe. International scheduled services are provided by Air Baltic, KLM Cityhopper, Norwegian, SAS and Wizz Air.

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Valderøya is an island off the west coast of Norway. It is part of Giske Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county. The island is connected to the city of Ålesund to the south via the Valderøy Tunnel to the island of Ellingsøy and then by the Ellingsøy Tunnel to Ålesund. Valderøya is also connected to the island Vigra to the north by a short bridge. It is also connected to the island of Giske to the west by the Giske Bridge.

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Ellingsøy island in Ålesund Municipality, Norway

Ellingsøy or Ellingsøya is the northernmost island in Ålesund Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. With an area of 22 square kilometres (8.5 sq mi), Ellingsøy is the second largest island in the municipality after Uksenøya. The island is located northeast of the town of Ålesund, north of the islands of Nørvøya and Uksenøya, east of the island of Valderøya, and south of the mainland peninsula of Haram. The villages of Hoffland, Årset, and Myklebust are all located on the south side of the island. Ellingsøy Church is the main church for the island.

Ålesund is a town and municipality in Møre og Romsdal County, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Sunnmøre and the centre of the Ålesund Region. It is a sea port and is noted for its concentration of Art Nouveau architecture. The town of Ålesund is the administrative centre of Ålesund Municipality, as well as the principal shipping town of the Sunnmøre district.

The Bjorøy Tunnel is a 2,012-metre-long (6,601 ft) subsea road tunnel in Hordaland county, Norway. The tunnel is part of the Norwegian County Road 207 which connects the island of Bjorøy in the municipality of Fjell to the mainland near Håkonshella and Hilleren in the city-municipality of Bergen. It crosses underneath the Vatlestraumen strait, reaching 88 metres (289 ft) below mean sea level. It serves as a fixed link for the 900 residents of the islands of Bjorøy and Tyssøy as well as a large number of cottage owners who vacation on the islands. The first proposal was launched in 1980, and construction started on 29 September 1993. There were severe problems because the tunneling encountered an area of sandstone, causing a year's delay. The total construction cost was 59 million kr. It opened on 7 May 1996 and remained a toll road until 29 January 2005.

The Ellingsøy Tunnel is a subsea road tunnel in Ålesund Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The tunnel runs between the center of the city of Ålesund on the island of Nørvøya and the village of Hoffland on the island of Ellingsøya. The 3,481-metre (11,421 ft) long tunnel runs under the Ellingsøyfjorden and it is part of National Road 658 and it was constructed as part of the Vigra Fixed Link project which connected several outlying islands to the city of Ålesund and the mainland of Norway. The tunnel opened in 1987 and it was a toll road until 25 October 2009. The 3-lane tunnel has a vertical clearance of 4.6 metres (15 ft) and it reaches a depth of 140 metres (460 ft) below sea level. The steepest parts of the tunnel do not exceed an 8.5% grade. The Ellingsøy Tunnel has a 'cork screw' spiral under the Hoffland island to span vertical height.

The Valderøy Tunnel is a subsea road tunnel which runs between the islands of Ellingsøya and Valderøya in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The 4,222-metre (13,852 ft) long tunnel is part of Norwegian National Road 658. The 3-lane wide tunnel has a maximum height of 4.6 metres (15 ft). The tunnel reaches a maximum depth of 137 metres (449 ft) below sea level. It was built in 1987 as part of the Vigra Fixed Link project. It was a toll road until 25 October 2009.

Giske is an island in Giske Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It covers an area of 2.67 square kilometers (1.03 sq mi) and had 717 residents in 2010. It is flat, with the highest point 23 meters (75 ft) above mean sea level. The island is connected by the Giske Bridge to the neighbouring island of Valderøya to the east and by the Godøy Tunnel to the island of Godøy to the south-west. Giske Church, dating back to the year 1180, sits on the southern coast of the island.

The Godøy Tunnel is a subsea road tunnel which runs between the islands of Giske and Godøy in Giske Municipality, Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The tunnel is 3,844 meters (12,612 ft) long; it is part of County Road 658 and the Vigra Fixed Link. It opened in 1989. The tunnel reaches a depth of 153 metres (502 ft) below sea level, with a maximum road grade of 10%.

The Bjarkøy Fixed Link is a fixed link which will connect the three islands of Bjarkøya, Sandsøya, and Grytøya in Harstad Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The fixed link should be completed in late 2018. A subsea road tunnel connect the islands of Grytøya and Bjarkøya and a bridge connects the islands of Grytøya and Sandsøya. The tunnel to Bjarkøya is 3.25 kilometres (2.02 mi) long. The bridge to Grytøya is 300 metres (980 ft) long plus a 900-metre (3,000 ft) long causeway. The project also included 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) of new road on Grytøya to connect the existing roads to the new undersea tunnel. The Bjarkøy Tunnel is designated as part of Norwegian County Road 867, while the Sandsøya Bridge is part of Norwegian County Road 124.

Vigra is an island in Giske Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The 20-square-kilometre (7.7 sq mi) island is located north of the islands of Valderøya and Giske, west of the mainland of Haram Municipality, and southwest of the island of Lepsøya. Vigra has a road connection to the mainland via the Vigra Fixed Link, a series of tunnels and bridges that connect all the islands of Giske Municipality to the city of Ålesund to the south. The island was formerly part of Vigra Municipality.

Mørefly A/S was an airline and general aviation company which operated between 1955 and 1995. Based in Ålesund and later Giske, Norway, it was involved in a wide range of operations, the most dominant being air ambulance services and helicopter services. Mørefly was based at Ålesund Airport, Sørneset until 1979 and thereafter at Ålesund Airport, Vigra. During its peak in the mid 1990s it had 150 employees and annual revenue of 250 million Norwegian krone (NOK).

References

1 2 Herskedal, Kjell (24 October 2009). "Gratis å kjøre Ålesundtunnelene fra søndag" (in Norwegian). Norwegian News Agency.

Coordinates: 62°29′25″N6°10′22″E / 62.4904°N 6.1727°E / 62.4904; 6.1727

Geographic coordinate system Coordinate system

A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position and two or three of the numbers represent a horizontal position; alternatively, a geographic position may be expressed in a combined three-dimensional Cartesian vector. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation. To specify a location on a plane requires a map projection.

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[herskedal-1] 1 2 Herskedal, Kjell (24 October 2009). "Gratis å kjøre Ålesundtunnelene fra søndag" (in Norwegian). Norwegian News Agency.