Sankt Eriksbron, Steel bridge in central Stockholm, Sweden
Sankt Eriksbron is a steel bridge in central Stockholm connecting Kungsholmen and Norrmalm across Barnhusviken Bay. The structure features two levels: vehicles travel on top while the subway runs below, with pedestrian paths on both sides.
The first bridge on the site, a combined truss and arch structure with seven spans totalling 226.8 metres, was built between 1903 and 1906; its foundations used the pneumatic caisson method for the first time in Sweden. In 1934–1937 the steel superstructure was replaced by plate girders on reinforced foundations, leaving only four of the seven spans visible. A lower deck for a future metro was added in 1944, making it Stockholm's only two-storey bridge, and European route E4 crossed it until 1970.
The name comes from Sankt Eriksgatan, the street crossing the bridge, named in 1885 after Eric IX of Sweden (1120–1160), Stockholm's patron saint, when patriotic and historical names were favoured for city structures. The bridge itself inherited the street's name.
The bridge carries Sankt Eriksgatan's vehicle traffic on its upper deck, with a separate lower deck for the green metro line. Pedestrians walk along the sides; the span crosses Kungsholms strand, Barnhusviken/Karlbergssjön, the Norra stambanan railway tracks and Atlasmuren. Only four of the original seven spans are visible today, as three are built over by offices and housing.
The 1944 addition of a lower deck for a future metro made Sankt Eriksbron Stockholm's first and so far only two-storey bridge. The metro's green line now runs beneath the roadway. Until 1970, European route E4 crossed the bridge as part of the city's main through route.
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