Fascinating bridges that cross borders
When is a bridge not just a bridge? When it is an international entity which soars not simply between two parts of a city, or across a meandering river - but plants one of its feet in one country, and its other in another. In doing so, it becomes a flight of fancy which talks of friendships between nations, or of healed wounds on sites which once witnessed pitched battles and the bloodiest examples of narcissism of small difference.
Too effusive a description? Well maybe. But such structures capture the imagination, whether they be the Glienicke Bridge (the so-called Bridge Of Spies in the German city of Potsdam, which connected West Berlin to East Germany in the fug of the Cold War) or the Oresund Bridge - which links Sweden and Denmark across the Oresund Strait.
The latter, a 4.8-mile engineering wonder which effectively vanishes from view (the journey over the waterway is completed by the 2.5-mile Drogden Tunnel, which sucks the E20 motorway underground), is the inspiration for this feature - it will return to our TV screens tonight (May 11) as the centrepoint of the fourth series of the ever-popular Scandinavian murder drama The Bridge, which is airing on BBC2. But the Öresundsbron (if you're Swedish; Øresundsbroen if you're Danish) is merely Europe's most famous case of a one-bridge-two-countries package. The following landmarks all begin in one nation state and end in another, and all come dressed in notes of intrigue...
1. Svinesund Bridge
Countries: Norway, Sweden
Length: 2,310ft (704m)
What: Not one bridge but two, both of them spanning the Iddefjord where it separates Norway and Sweden in the south-west of the latter. The old Svinesundsbron (if you're talking Swedish) was completed in 1946, the newer version at a cost of £46million between 2003 and 2005. It's a dramatic affair too, a vast arch soaring above the traffic.
Fascinating fact: The original bridge was fashioned between 1939 and 1946, but was delayed by the war - in particular its partial destruction in 1942 as a defensive measure.
Would you want to cross it? Absolutely. The Iddefjord is a beautiful expanse of water, and if you continue 72 miles north along the E6 motorway, you roll into in Oslo.
2. Guadiana International Bridge
Countries: Spain, Portugal
Length: 2,185ft (666m)
What: A modern masterpiece which leaps a great river of the Iberian Peninsula. Spain and Portugal are often seen as neighbours separated by little more than a line drawn on the map - but tell that to the River Guadiana where it arrives at its estuary between Spain's Huelva province and the Portuguese Algarve. The Guadiana Puente Internacional (if you're speaking Spanish) takes care of this vast obstacle on behalf of the A-49 (in Spain) and A22 (in Portugal) motorways, linking the countries as a cable-stayed marvel whose twin towers resembles sails in the breeze. It was finished in 1991.
Fascinating fact: There is another, rather smaller, crossing, the Lower Guadiana International Bridge, some 20 miles upstream, near the Portuguese village of Pomarao.
Would you want to cross it? If you are planning a holiday that combines time on the beach in the Algarve with a weekend in Seville (a good idea), you really can't avoid it.
3. Frankfurt-Slubice Bridge
Countries: Germany, Poland
Length: 722ft (220m)
What: The River Oder marks the post-war border between Germany and Poland for more than 200 miles, and does so in pretty fashion where the towns of Frankfurt an der Oder (Germany) and Slubice (Poland) eye each other across the water, 60 miles east of Berlin. The bridge between them was once a division point between western and central Europe (in the years between the reunification of Germany in 1990 and Polish arrival in the EU in 2004), with passport checks to match - but now you can stroll over.
Fascinating fact: Frankfurt an der Oder has little in common with its more famous namesake Frankfurt am Main. The latter is the fifth biggest city in Germany, the former is a rather more diminutive proposition, with a population of just 58,000 souls.
Would you want to cross it? There's no reason why not. The two towns are twinned - and have, at various times in their history, both been German, and both been Polish. Inhabitants of Frankfurt tend to go to Slubice to pick up cigarettes at a far lower price.
4. Rainbow Bridge
Countries: USA, Canada
Length: 1,450ft (440m)
What: The concrete connector which hops across Niagara Gorge, tying the town of Niagara Falls in America to the town of, erm, Niagara Falls in Canada. It has, since its completion in 1941, been a traditional place of footfall for tourists who want to glimpse Niagara Falls from both sides of the international line. Some opinions declare that this much-eulogised cascade looks more spectacular on the Canadian side of the chasm. The Rainbow Bridge offers the opportunity to gauge the truth of this sentiment.
Fascinating fact: No-one is quite sure why the Rainbow Bridge is so-called. A stone panel on the Canadian end of the structure lifts a quote from the biblical book of Genesis that refers to a "bow in the clouds". But other than that, it's a bit of a mystery.
Would you want to cross it? There is no better way to see Niagara Falls from all angles, but everything depends on your appetite for border bureaucracy. If you want to go across and back quickly, it means encounters with passport officers four times in a day. Strolling over the bridge has certainly become a more fraught process since 9/11.
5. Ogdensburg-Prescott International Bridge
Countries: USA, Canada
Length: 1.5 miles
What: Another link between the good neighbours of North America, although its name is semi-misleading, as the bridge connects the city of Ogdensburg in New York state with Johnstown in Ontario (rather than Prescott, which is two miles to the south-west. This is a major piece of engineering, and it has to be, as it spans the St Lawrence River, the arterial route to the Atlantic which is one of the lifebloods of the American Midwest. A classic suspension bridge in pale green, it was ushered into life in 1960.
Fascinating fact: Johnstown found itself at the centre of a small storm in 2015 when the then-Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper stood in front of the bridge and filmed a video praising the local ship-building industry. The only trouble was, he was actually praising the local ship-building industry in Halifax, Nova Scotia - where you find the similar A. Murray MacKay Bridge. People noticed - and were not amused. Harper's office was quick to point out that the video never claims to be set in Halifax.
Would you want to cross it? Why not? It's but 60 miles from the bridge to the underrated Canadian capital Ottawa, and just 125 miles further from there to Montreal.
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6. Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge
Countries: USA, Canada
Length: 2.8 miles
What: A monster of a steel truss arch bridge, finished in 1962, which connects the US state of Michigan with the Canadian province of Ontario. Rather sweetly, it does so between the twin cities of Sault Ste. Marie and, yes, Sault Ste. Marie. This is a key international connection point - there is a rail bridge as well as a road bridge - but the latter is by far the busier of the two, open to cyclists as well as standard motor vehicles.
Fascinating fact: You really don't want to overshoot the bridge and miss it. It's the only land-span across the various bodies of water which separate Canada and the USA in this segment of North America (St Marys River, Lake Superior et al) for 700 miles.
Would you want to cross it? Oh yes. Possibly while humming a happy tune and smiling at bluebirds. The bridge is something of a symbol of cross-border co-operation. It is managed by a board of eight directors - four of them American, four Canadian - and shows its colours on the last Saturday of every June, when the International Bridge Walk sees people stroll across it in a merry coming-together of the two communities.
7. Bridge Of The Americas
Countries: USA, Mexico
Length: 1,083ft (330m)
What: An elongated fragment of the desert which stretches from the southerly Texas city of El Paso to the Mexican metropolis that is Ciudad Juarez. Built between 1996 and 1998, it is one of five such structures which link these close-set conurbations. The general aridity of the terrain it crosses is underscored by the fact that, for most of the year, the Rio Grande - that great border river between the two countries - is barely more than a dusty trench where it "flows" beneath the walkways and lanes of traffic.
Fascinating fact: Bridge Of The Americas has been the setting for the American version of The Bridge - with Diane Kruger and Demián Bichir in the headline roles.
Would you want to cross it? Probably not. Depending on which way you are travelling, queues and security scans can make for a lengthy process. And its murder rate meant that Juarez was considered the world's most violent city in the Noughties.
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8. Puente Libertador General San Martín
Countries: Argentina, Uruguay
Length: 3.7 miles
What: Argentina and Uruguay are not always the best of friends - matches between their international football teams are arguably South America's fiercest "derby" - but they link arms in the far west of the latter, where they gaze at each other across the River Uruguay. It was built between 1972 and 1976, and is named after José de San Martín, the Argentine general who was key in freeing both nations from Spanish rule.
Fascinating fact: Hanging out on the Uruguayan side of the bridge can lead you to an oddly Anglocentric slice of the past. The city of Fray Bentos is home to a former meat-processing plant that produced pies and corned beef for the British Army - and later the British market as a whole - during the late 19th century and the World Wars (hence the brand Fray Bentos). The site has been on the Unesco World Heritage list since 2015.
Would you want to cross it? You can, although you might want to check for local political disputes. In 2005, Argentinian environmental groups blocked the bridge amid protest at Uruguay opening paper mills further upstream, and accusations of pollution.
9. Tancredo Neves Bridge
Countries: Argentina, Brazil
Length: 1,604ft (489m)
What: A genuine act of Latin unity. This cantilever bridge links the two big beasts of South America across the River Iguacu, immediately north-west of the point where the waterway takes its magnificent horseshoe-shaped plunge through Iguacu Falls. The structure - which is also known as "Ponte da Fraternidade" ("Fraternity Bridge") - was pieced together between 1982 and 1985, to allow tourists (and locals) simplified access to the two sides of the cascade. It has been capably performing this task ever since.
Fascinating fact: You can see three countries from the bridge. Paraguay, directly to the west, on the opposite bank of the adjacent Parana River, is also clearly visible.
Would you want to cross it? Good lord yes. Iguacu Falls is wonderful.
