Much hate, but we use it anyway.
As an infrastructure civil engineer, I remember I kept face-palming the times whenever I read some (bad) articles about Inderhavnsbro, about how much fail it actually was and how much money it cost to build it, along with the delays and such. With the last incident that the bridge couldn't be opened to let a ferry to Hven pass through, it only adds the level of fail of the bridge.
But I was here yesterday to check things out (nope, not part of the team behind the construction project, no sir-eeee.... *shakes head violently*) and it's a nice bridge after all.
Function: It connects the crowded Nyhavn area to the less known part of Christianshavn via Trangravsbroen, or whatever it's called now. More tourists to Papirøen and the rest of unlooked Refshaleøen, more win for the economy. Plus, it's great place to do instagram selfie - in the middle of the canal.
Idea: Retractable bridge is brilliant as it is (when it's working, obviously). The bridge consists of the fast parts (the parts attached to the mainland) up to where the slight turn are for both sides, and the sliding part is starting where the yellow glass is up to the middle of the bridge. When it's retracted, the drawn part will fill the hollow in between the two coloured glass.
At first when I looked at the pictures / videos about the bridge, I didn't understand the odd turn for both pedestrian & bike path but now I do, because the retractable parts are in the middle of the bridge, so they need to make people do slight turn to change from the fast parts to the retractable parts.
Brilliant idea, I must admit, but does it work? Read my first paragraph above. Apparently, they're having much problem with the hydraulics part, the force behind pulling and pushing the bridge back to place.
Overall review from me: four star because as much as I hate the "oh-we-can-do-it-better-than other-countries-rather-than-copy-what's-already-working-over-there-but-it-mostly-ends-up-as-failure" (remember rejsekort fiasko?) mentality of pretty much whatever construction or new system applied in this place, I can't help thinking how easy it is to get to Papirøen from Nyhavn, and that's the only function of the bridge.
I would probably rate this bridge as one-star had I been one of the passengers stuck in a ferry to Hven the other day or another ship owner who couldn't get her boat across because this bridge experienced yet another fail. I keep my fingers crossed that people learn from their mistakes and as the engineers figured out with the hydraulics: The kissing bridge should learn to kiss with less SMACK.
MWAH! read more