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Öresund Bridge between Denmark and Sweden has ‘most expensive toll in world'
A review by a Swedish newspaper has concluded that the Öresund Bridge connecting Denmark to Sweden is the world's priciest crossing to drive over.
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The Öresund Bridge is this year marking the 25th anniversary of its opening, but has been given a title it might not want to include in the celebrations.
Swedish newspaper Sydsvenskan has concluded that the 16-kilometre tunnel and bridge connection between Amager in Denmark and Skåne in Sweden has the most expensive bridge toll in the world.
The current price for a single journey across the bridge in a private car is 510 Danish kroner or 750 Swedish kronor, making it the most expensive bridge by some distance according to Sydsvenskan.
Subscribers to the Øresund Go discount scheme pay 178 Danish kroner per crossing, or 262 Swedish kronor. The subscription costs 365 Danish kroner or 565 Swedish kronor per year.
This means that even with a subscription to the discount scheme, the first five crossings are still more expensive than on any other bridge in the world. More than five crossings in a year will result in a lower average price per crossing.
Around 80 percent of motorists who use the bridge have either Øresund Go or another form of discount according to the newspaper.
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The twin bridges between Kobe and Naruto in Japan are the world's second-most expensive to cross, with the Confederation Bridge in Canada in third place.
Denmark's Great Belt Bridge between Funen and Zealand is the fourth-most expensive in the world.
The high toll prices on the Öresund Bridge are necessary because it is user and not taxpayer-funded, Linus Eriksson, CEO of operating company Øresundsbron, told Danish news wire Ritzau.
'We haven't spent a single taxpayer krone financing this bridge and we still have debt to pay off,' Eriksson said.
The Øresund Bridge was built at a cost of 14.8 billion Danish kroner in 1990, with its financing structure requiring loans to be repaid by users of the bridge.
Eriksson also noted that tolls on the bridge are required to be based on ferry fares linking Denmark to Sweden between Helsingør and Helsingborg.
The repayment period is a maximum of 50 years from the bridge's opening in 2000, meaning that the bridge is expected to be fully paid off by 2050 at the latest.
