Arctic Super Bridge
This episode follows an international team of engineers and construction workers as they attempt to build the longest suspension bridge within the Arctic Circle. The giant 276-million-pound Hålogaland Bridge will cross the stunning Rombak Fjord, providing safer, faster access to the north of the country from the busy industrial city of Narvik.
The team from Norway and China is overseen by project manager Dagrunn Kaasen, an engineer with 30 years’ experience. But this will be her first ever bridge build. The documentary follows Dagrunn and her team as they race to install over 11,000 miles of steel wire that will form the bridge’s giant main cables. Each cable needs to be anchored 130 feet deep into the heart of the mountains on either side of the fjord. We follow the workers as they struggle to install 30 huge steel deck sections using a giant floating crane, each section needs to be locked into position at precisely the right angle, or the deck and towers won’t align.
The team’s ultimate challenge is battling the weather. In this part of the world temperatures rise and fall by 60 degrees across the year and, with minus 30-degree winters, Dagrunn must finish the deck installation before the Arctic winter weather arrives!
Building a bridge of this scale in this part of the world is no mean feat. We witness the team fight through ferocious storm winds that wreak havoc with the build, whilst working 500 feet above the freezing water. And we learn how architects have designed the bridge to withstand the hostile environment to take on Mother Nature’s worst!