Dillinger heavy plate for
the Hisings Bridge in Sweden

The new Hisings Bridge is a vertical lift bridge over the Gota River on the west coast of Sweden, which replaced the old Götaälvbron (the Göta River Bridge), which had become outdated after more than 8 decades and could no longer cope with the growing car traffic. The new bridge is about 1,500 m long, of which the central movable superstructure has a length of 464 m and a weight of 2,300 tons.

The bridge has been given the Italian name “Arpeggio” because of this spectacular movable central section, which is supported by four pylons 50 m high and weighing 130 tons. The superstructure is 12 m above the mean water level, but can be raised to allow a 28 m high free passage of ships.

The “arpeggio” is a musical term that stands for a chord in which the individual notes do not sound simultaneously, but one after the other – in ascending or descending order. And this is exactly how a lift bridge works, creating greater clearance for ships by raising the track.

Designed for a service life of 120 years, the bridge was completed in May 2021 and includes trams, buses, cars, pedestrians and cyclists paths. The Hisings bridge was also honored with the international IABSE Award 2023 (International Association fo Bridge and Structural Engineering), where it triumphed in the category small road and rail bridges.

For this “musical” bridge, Dillinger supplied approx. 1,650 t of heavy plate in grades S355J2+N, S355N, S355MC in thicknesses from 8 to 80 mm.