An owner's view of hydroinformatics: its role in realising the bridge and tunnel connection between Denmark and Sweden

The motorway and railway connection between Denmark and Sweden, opened on 1 July 2000, when taken together with the connection across the Great Belt between the largest Danish islands, now provides a direct link between the Scandinavian peninsular and the rest of Europe. At a total cost of some 8 billion US dollars, these projects represented the largest infrastructural investments of their kind in Europe. Although backed by strong political and economic interests, these projects were also opposed by a part of the public and especially by political and environmental interest groups. This opposition was particularly pronounced in the case of the Denmark-Sweden link, partly owing to its location in a densely populated area and partly due to the potential impacts of the proposed link on the very sensitive local and regional marine environment. Thus, alongside the task of designing and constructing the physical link, the consortium that was responsible for its realisation, Øresundsbro Konsortiet, had to find ways to satisfy these many diverse interests. This paper describes how Øresundsbro Konsortiet, being an owner that valued constructive partnership, took up these challenges in their management, and how the environmental concerns were accommodated in the design and construction methods. Furthermore, it describes how the socio-technical approaches already taken up and developed within hydroinformatics in earlier projects were taken much further in the case of the Denmark-Sweden link. Finally, the paper describes the role of hydroinformatics in the various phases of the project and its significance in achieving the successful completion. The role of hydroinformatics as an important technology in facilitating stakeholder dialogue is thereby also clearly illustrated.