Qualla: Fredvang Bridges

Fredvang Bridges: Introduction

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Vasile Cotovanu from Zürich, Switzerland, CC BY 2.0. Before 1988, the fishing village of Fredvang was reachable only by boat. Perched on the island of Moskenesøya in the Lofoten archipelago, its inhabitants lived with the particular isolation that comes from being able to see the neighboring island of Flakstadøya but not drive to it. Then Norway built two bridges -- identical twins, each 240 meters long, leaping in matching cantilever arcs across the straits -- and Fredvang became connected to the road network that threads the entire Lofoten chain. What the engineers built for transportation, photographers and travelers have since claimed as one of the most dramatic drives in the Arctic.

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Image: Vasile Cotovanu from Zürich, Switzerland | CC BY 2.0

Fredvang Bridges: Twin Spans

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Arend Veenhuizen, CC BY 3.0. The Fredvang Bridges are a pair: the southern Kubholmleia Bridge and the northern Røssøystraumen Bridge. Each stretches 240 meters with a cantilevered center span of 115 meters, an engineering solution that allows the bridges to cross open water without support columns disturbing...

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Image: Arend Veenhuizen | CC BY 3.0

Fredvang Bridges: The Road Between Islands

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Rasmus Zwickson from Brooklyn, USA, CC BY 2.0. Lofoten is an archipelago laced together by bridges, tunnels, and ferry routes. The Fredvang Bridges are part of this larger project of connection -- a Norwegian determination, pursued over decades, to link its remote island and fjord communities by road. Before the bridges, Fred...

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Image: Rasmus Zwickson from Brooklyn, USA | CC BY 2.0

Fredvang Bridges: A Photographer's Crossing

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ximonic (Simo Räsänen), CC BY-SA 4.0. The Fredvang Bridges have become one of Lofoten's most recognizable images. Seen from above or from the surrounding hillsides, the two parallel arcs of concrete and steel trace graceful curves across water that shifts between deep blue and green depending on the light. Behind the...

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Image: Ximonic (Simo Räsänen) | CC BY-SA 4.0