The Oresund Link, connecting Copenhagen, Denmark, to Malmo, Sweden, is an engineering marvel that combines a high-level cable-stayed bridge, an artificial island, and an immersed tube tunnel. While a bridge spanning the entire 16-kilometer distance might seem like the simplest solution, strict aviation and environmental constraints made it impossible. On the Danish side, the alignment passes directly adjacent to Copenhagen Airport at Kastrup.
A tall bridge structure or high cable-stayed towers in this zone would pose a severe hazard to landing aircraft. Conversely, building a tunnel across the entire strait was prohibitively expensive and technically challenging. To reconcile these factors, engineers constructed the Drogden Tunnel on the Danish side and a bridge on the Swedish side.
Connecting the two required a transit node in the middle of the strait: the custom-built artificial island of Peberholm. Spanning four kilometers in length, Peberholm was built using dredged marine material from the seabed. Beyond solving the aviation conflict, this hybrid configuration preserves critical water flow through the strait.
A continuous bridge embankment or shallow piers across the entire sound would block ocean currents, threatening the delicate marine ecosystem of the Baltic Sea. Peberholm was deliberately designed with a streamlined shape to minimize disruption to water currents, while serving as the perfect, seamless transition zone where dual-track railways and a four-lane motorway dive beneath the waves.