Design of the Vihantasalmi Bridge, Finland

The Vihantasalmi Bridge is situated in Mantyharju, about 180 km north of Helsinki. The new bridge was planned to replace an old and narrow tied-arch steel bridge in beautiful scenery, where the road crosses a strait of a lake. Since the project was technically and aesthetically very demanding, a design competition was arranged to find the best solution for the bridge. The final design was based on the winning proposal of the competition, in which a traditional bridge type usually used for small wooden bridges was applied to a larger span.