Kyrkbron, Umeå
| Kyrkbron | |
|---|---|
North side's entrance ramp.
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| Coordinates | 63°49′15″N 20°16′0″E / 63.82083°N 20.26667°ECoordinates: 63°49′15″N 20°16′0″E / 63.82083°N 20.26667°E |
| Carries | Vehicles, pedestrians and bikes |
| Crosses | Ume River |
| Locale | Umeå |
| Maintained by | Umeå Municipality |
| ID number | AC 1342 |
| Characteristics | |
| Material | Reinforced concrete |
| Total length | 391 meters |
| Width | West bridge: 11–19 m East bridge: 13–20 m |
| No. of spans | 11 |
| Clearance below | 3.8 meters |
| History | |
| Constructed by | AB Vägförbättringar |
| Construction begin | 16 June 1972 |
| Construction end | 26 September 1975 |
| Statistics | |
| Daily traffic | 13 300 vehicles and 1 900 bikes |
Kyrkbron is a bridge in Umeå that takes Östra Kyrkogatan over Ume River to Teg on the south side. The construction of Kyrkbron started in 1973 and it was opened on 26 September 1975 becoming Umeå's third bridge over the Ume river. A discussion about whether or not the bridge should be located next to the church lasted from the early 1960s and continued into the 1970s. During the construction an unknown burial ground was encountered (an older part of the cemetery), leading to archaeological excavations.
The bridge consists of two parallel girders in concrete with vertical straight supports. It is actually two separate bridges, each with their lane with on and exit ramps that extend out over the river on the north side. The purpose of building Kyrkbron was to relieve Tegsbron from some of the traffic and Kyrkbron was designed with the expectation that there would be a drastic increase in car traffic in the city center, which proved to be highly optimistic.
Already in the 1930s it was clear that the only bridge over the river in Umeå, Gamla bron, no longer would be able to cope with the increasing traffic. The County Board in Västerbotten commissioned the highway engineer O H Grahnén to create a work plan and drawings for a new bridge or a reconstruction of the existing bridge. Grahnéns proposal, dated 16 July 1936, showed a number of different solutions. Among other suggestions, there was a proposal to place the bridge as an extension to Östra Kyrkogatan, next to Umeå City Church. One problem with this solution was that the bridge then would end up downstream from the port and therefor the bridge would need to have vertical clearance or have movable bridge components, so that ships could pass. Such solutions was however considered to be too costly. Grahnéns main proposal was instead that the old bridge was closed to motor traffic and that a new bridge was to be built at the extension of Västra Esplanaden.
Tegs municipal society then requested a report regarding the possibility of a bridge in the extension of Östra Kyrkogatan. The provincial government appointed O. H. Grahnén to investigate it and Grahnén's investigation showed that a swing bridge with a swing span was the only realistic solution, but also that the additional costs were considered too high. This led Grahnén to object to building a bridge at Östra kyrkogatan. Despite Grahnén's advise the provincial government in 1939 decided that a swing bridge should be built. The case was revised by the King in Council who sent the matter back to the provincial government for reconsideration. This led the provincial government to change their minds and it was decided that the bridge should be built at the extension of Västra Esplanaden. This bridge, Tegsbron, was inaugurated in 1949.
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