A safe first day of school thanks to a new pedestrian bridge
The pupils of Bryn Primary School in the eastern part of Oslo can now finally safely cross the heavily trafficked E6 on their way to school using a new pedestrian bridge. EFLA did the engineering and planning of the building phase of the bridge project, which was completed in record time.
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New footbridge at Teisen, Oslo, makes the school road safer.
The demand for a safer crossing of the motorway at the E6/Teisenveien junction, now named “Groruddalsporten”, has been high within the neighboring community ever since the bridge that has now been replaced was declared unsafe for pedestrians 7 years ago. The parents of Bryn Primary School students have been greatly concerned for the children's safety walking to school. The old bridge, built as a temporary solution in the 1970s, was finally demolished on June 20th. The new bridge was completed by the end of August and parents, children and the faculty at Bryn Primary School are delighted to be able to safely cross the road.
A temporary solution
Even though the newly constructed bridge is also considered to be temporary, it meets all current safety requirements, for example for a sealed deck surface, bridge ramp inclination and vertical clearance above the road. The reason for it being classified as temporary is that the stretch of motorway, which is one of the most congested in Oslo, is a part of the larger Økern – Brynseng project that is now in the planning stages. As the completion of that project is years from now, the construction of a temporary pedestrian bridge was necessary. The bridge is procured and run by the Norwegian Road Administration, Statens vegvesen. Project manager Ingrid Larsen Holtmoen says that she is very pleased that they managed to meet the deadline. “The goal was to have the bridge completed before the first day of school, and this we managed.”EFLA's view
Like other parties involved, the EFLA team is delighted that the pedestrian bridge was opened before school start. “The bridge construction ran without delays. The period between the initial construction application approval by Oslo municipality to bridge completion was only a few months.” says Eivind Aase, division manager of Transportation at EFLA in Norway. “Normally, this process takes significantly longer. We are very pleased that all stakeholders prioritized the project to ensure a safe school run for the children at Bryn Primary School.”
Children, parents and representative from Statens vegvesem smiled for the camera when the new footbridge opened. Photo: Martine Myhre.