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Bridge to nowhere

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This highway bridge near Castrop-Rauxel, Germany, was built in 1978 but not connected on either end.
An overpass to nowhere in Summit, New Jersey: Brantwood Terrace Overpass,[1] walled off on both ends

A bridge to nowhere is a bridge where one or both ends are broken, incomplete, or unconnected to any roads. If it is an overpass or an interchange, the term overpass to nowhere or interchange to nowhere may be used respectively.[2][3]

Origins

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There are five main origins for these bridges:

  • The bridge was never completed for reasons such as cost or disputed property rights.
  • One or both of the bridge's ends have collapsed or have been destroyed, for example, by earthquake, storm, flood, landslide, or war.
  • The bridge is no longer used, but was not demolished because of the cost; for example, the bridges on an abandoned railway line.
  • The bridge is completed, but the streets connecting the bridge are not completed.
  • The bridge or any other part of the construction can be regarded as a pork barrel project aimed at useless fund spending or money laundering with minor or negligible public usefulness.

Metaphoric use

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The term "bridge to nowhere" may be used by political opponents to describe a bridge (or proposed bridge) that serves low-population areas at high cost, usually characterizing it as an instance of pork barrel spending.[4]

By extension, it may refer to any undertaking perceived as both pointless and costly.

Incomplete and damaged bridges

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Argentina

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  • The two-lane elevated concrete vehicle bridge across the Cosquin River in Cosquin, province of Cordoba, Argentina, that was intended to connect Calle Pedro Ortiz, to the west, to Avenida Capitan Aviador Omar Castillo, to the east, was never opened. The span of the bridge itself was complete, but it was never connected to the road system on either end, and the ends of the span remained blocked by steep piles of rubble. In lieu of the elevated vehicle bridge, the small, low Onofre Marimon Bridge connected the two streets for small volumes of pedestrian traffic. In 2020 it was finally connected at both ends and open to vehicle traffic,[5] and the lower bridge was demolished. The remains of the bridge can still be seen at Puente Mercedes Sosa.

Belgium

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Bulgaria

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  • Bulgaria's capital city of Sofia has a highspeed city bypass called Northern Speed Tangent, which upon completion had three bridges with two clover-style interchanges. These three bridges were built with the intention to connect the north neighbourhoods of Sofia, however since 2016, when the high speed bypass was built, they have not been connected to the city and are currently bridges to nowhere. Plans are being developed for finally connecting the bridges to the city proper, but due to constant changes and disputes between the local government and road agencies, these plans are frozen.[citation needed]

Canada

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  • Port Nelson Bridge, an isolated rail bridge near Port Nelson, Manitoba. The connecting rail line was never finished due to labour and material shortages, a lack of financial or political support, and high cost. The envisioned port was also poorly designed and was found to require excessive dredging due to significant sand bars. The project was greatly criticized by several politicians (the media calling it a "gigantic blunder").[7]
  • Ontario Highway 69 south of Ontario Highway 522 near Grundy Provincial Park. The two bridges are for the southbound and northbound lanes of the future Ontario Highway 400 connecting Greater Sudbury and Toronto.[citation needed]
  • Gaglardi Way in Burnaby, British Columbia: originally ended suddenly as an overpass of Highway 1 at the south end at just a forest, due to a residential subdivision further south, blocking its continuation. The overpass was originally designed as a Cloverleaf interchange, but as the road is not continued, both its northeastern and southeastern cloverleaf ramps were blocked off. Eventually, the dead-end stump and the two blocked off ramps were removed beginning in the late 2000s, and completely removed at mid 2013.[citation needed]

China

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Czech Republic

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France

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Pont Saint-Bénézet in Avignon, France

Germany

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Soda-Brücke Euskirchen

The colloquial name for a bridge to nowhere in Germany is "Soda-Brücke" (a pun on "so da" = "just there"). Many of the bridges were built in the 1970s as part of the Autobahn network, but the oil crisis and rising environmental consciousness slowed many highway extensions.

Honduras

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  • The Bridge of Rising Sun in Choluteca, completed in 1998, became a bridge to nowhere the same year when Hurricane Mitch hit Honduras. While the bridge itself survived with minor damage, the roads on either end got entirely washed away and the Choluteca River had carved itself a new channel on the side, leaving the bridge to span dry ground. It eventually got reconnected to the highway in 2003.[citation needed]

Hong Kong

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Hungary

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A former railway bridge over the Váci út in Újpest, Budapest, Hungary – with its rail line defunct in the early 1990s, the cityside approach of the bridge was demolished to create space for construction.

India

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Indonesia

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Italy

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Latvia

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Nepal

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New Zealand

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Norway

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  • Eintveit Bridge, a 25 metres (82 ft)-long two-lane road bridge in Etne Municipality in Vestland county, was completed in 1962 and was intended to be part of a road on the northwestern side of Åkrafjorden. But the road was never built, and the bridge has remained unused except occasionally by hikers. In 2014, broadcaster NRK organized the "opening" of the bridge. Two cars were flown in by helicopter and driven across the bridge.[9][10]

Philippines

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  • The Loboc Bridge in the town of Loboc, Bohol. A steel and concrete bridge which commenced construction in the 1970s but was left unfinished allegedly due to opposition from the Loboc parishioners since the bridge might destroy the 400-year old Loboc Church.[11]

Poland

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near Lisowo, demolished 2019
  • Several structures on unfinished Olimpijka motorway. Its construction started in 1976 with the propaganda goal of completing it in time for the Moscow Olympics in 1980 (hence its unofficial name, as part of Berlin-Moscow connection). Because of the economic crisis which hit the country in the late 1970s and continued throughout the 1980s, only a small section was opened. Construction of another stretch resumed only in 2001, as a part of A2 motorway. Since 2010 the plan was to finish the whole link between the border with Germany and Warsaw, this time for the UEFA Euro 2012 football championships. This meant that weathered remains of 1970s structures had to be demolished in the 2010s.[citation needed]
  • Several structures on unfinished Berlinka, Nazi Germany's Reichsautobahn Berlin-Königsberg started in 1936. Some of them have been demolished as late as the 2010s.[citation needed]

Romania

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  • Ciurel Bridge is an unfinished infrastructure project located in Bucharest, Romania. It gained significant attention and earned the nickname "Bridge to Nowhere" or "Bridge to Nothing" on social media. The construction was initiated as part of an expansion towards the A1 Highway, but the remaining section of the project, an 8.3-kilometer road, has not been built. Currently, the bridge only serves as a left turn and resolves the traffic issue for those traveling from Virtuții Road to Splaiul Independenței. Pro Infrastructura, an organization that monitors infrastructure projects, argues that the Bucharest City Hall should have made a decision regarding the continuation of the road to the A1 Highway, covering the distance of 8.3 kilometers. Without this connection, the Virtuții Junction (Ciurel Passage) does not effectively address the traffic congestion, as it was originally intended to alleviate the traffic on Iuliu Maniu Boulevard. Sorin Ioniță, an activist who has closely followed the project, criticized it, stating, "This passage will cross a T-intersection on a picturesque bridge with ramps, descend on the other side, and lead the cars to the exact same place as before, Virtuții Road. All at an impressive cost of over 400 million lei. This road passage in Sector 6 is probably the most useless and foolish investment in Romania since '89,". The construction of the passage began in 2010 and was initially scheduled for completion in December 2014. Delays in the project were caused by litigation and financial constraints.[citation needed]

Russia

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The bridge in Porozovo

Slovakia

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  • Viaduct in Kopráš, a never-used railway viaduct in the village of Kopráš near the town of Jelšava in south Slovakia. The viaduct is 120 metres (390 ft) long and 40 metres (130 ft) high. It was finished in 1945 but was never used, because the railway to the viaduct was never completed due to the events of World War II.[12] Next to the viaduct are two finished tunnels without any connection to railways. The tunnel near the village of Slavošovce is 2,800 metres (9,200 ft) long, and the tunnel near Kopráš is 350 metres (1,150 ft) long. These tunnels to nowhere were also never used, because railway construction ended in 1948 before its completion.[13]

Spain

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Taiwan

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