Road and/or Railway Bridge

Field of the Invention

The present invention concerns a road and/or railway bridge of the kind indicated in the preamble of claim 1.

Background of the Invention

Large public traffic facilities, such as road and/or railway bridges are often very costly for the society, a fact which may have a very detrimental and inadvertent influence on a local community where the tendency is to assign a lower priority to large public traffic facilities at the expense of other public construction works, such as building of schools, secondary schools and hospitals.

The lack of traffic facilities in the form of road and/or railway bridges of the kind mentioned in the introduction may have great significance to the local community, because - besides being the cause of traffic jams and increased contamination - may mean retardation of business development, which in turn means economic stagnation with lack of jobs, causing that the tax basis in the area is also minimised.

Object of the Invention

On this background, it is the purpose of the invention to indicate an entirely new and improved road and/or railway bridge of the kind indicated in the introduction, and which in a simple way may contribute to improve the traffic situation, the environment and the business situation in the local community.

Description of the Invention

The road and/or railway bridge according to the invention is characterised in that the water based piers include a number of storeys that are designed with habitation and/or business modules, such as apartments for habitation, office purposes, production purposes and possibly cafes, restaurants or similar public localities.

In a simple way is hereby achieved possibility of a very significant improvement of the traffic situation, the environment and the business situation in the local community, since by establishing very attractive habitation and/or business modules in the piers for

the bridge, an extraordinary opportunity for financing a larger and very costly and in principle public traffic facility is attained.

It is even expected that a road and/or railway bridge according to the invention where the piers, instead of constructing the piers as solid reinforced concrete constructions, are arranged as hollow coffers with several storeys arranged for habitation or office purposes, may become an attractive investment object for private investors and institutional investors, such as pension providers and similar.

The housing and/or office apartments in the bridge according to the invention may in principle be organised as non-profit-making housing associations, co-operative associations or owners' association with individually owned apartments.

The bridge according to the invention may suitably be designed so that in connection with the roadways parking facilities are provided. Additionally, it may be very advantageous that the bridge according to the invention is thus designed that in connection with the parking facilities there are public localities such as restaurants, cafes, shops, kiosks.

With regard to optimal accessibility it will be most advantageous if the bridge according to the invention is designed so that the parking facility is preferably disposed in the upper but one floor or level under the roadways or railway tracks.

With the intention of the best possible utilisation of e.g. urban recreational areas, it will be very advantageous if the bridge according to the invention is so designed that the water based piers are designed with lower protective foundations or protective islands that have larger area than the piers, and which are planted for forming recreational areas.

Such areas in the form of terraces or gardens may of course be reserved inhabitants and/or office personnel from housing units and office apartments from the associated pier, but alternatively the recreational areas may be accessible for the public with

access via elevators in the piers or access via the waterway with boats, e.g. public tour or route boats.

The bridge according to the invention is so designed that the recreational areas include kiosks, cafes or restaurants which are arranged in or at the piers and preferably at level with the recreational areas.

Description of the Drawing

The invention is now explained more closely in connection with the drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 shows a so-called exploded view of an embodiment of a road bridge according to the invention;

Fig. 2 shows an elementary sketch of a second embodiment of a combined road, bicycle and/or pedestrian bridge according to the invention;

Fig. 3 shows a sectional view through an embodiment of a pier for a bridge according to the invention;

Fig. 4 shows a sectional view through a second embodiment of a pier for a bridge according to the invention;

Fig. 5 shows a perspective view of a part of a model of a road bridge according to the invention with housing or business apartments in the piers;

Fig. 6 shows a second perspective view of the model shown in Fig. 5 of a road bridge according to the invention with housing or business apartments in the piers and with recreational areas on the protective islands of the bridge;

Fig. 7 shows a perspective view of a model of a protective island with recreational area, cf. Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 shows perspective close-up detail, cf. Fig. 5, of an upper part of a bridge according to the invention;

Fig. 9 shows a perspective view of a model of a bridge according to the invention, shown with a large ship during passage through a bridge arch;

Fig. 10 shows a view of a bridge according to the invention inserted in a photo from

Paris, i.e. where the bridge extends over the Seine;

Fig. 11 shows a view of a second bridge according to the invention inserted in another photo from Paris, i.e. where the bridge also extends over the Seine; and

Fig. 12 shows yet a view of a bridge according to the invention inserted in a third . photo from Paris, i.e. where the bridge also extends over the Seine river.

Detailed description of the invention

The road bridge shown in Fig. 1 includes an upper deck 2 with four lanes 3, an upper but one deck 5 where a large number of parking spaces 4, a bar 6 and two restaurants 8,10 are arranged. In the third deck 7, housing and business apartments are arranged, while in the lower section 12, where the navigation openings 14 of the bridge are formed, a number of storeys with housing apartments are arranged in piers 15, which also applies to the lower storey 16 which is designed with larger independent housing units 18 with outdoor areas in the form of terraces or gardens 20 on the protective islands 22 of the piers.

By the embodiment shown in Fig. 2 of a combined pedestrian, cycle and road bridge 24 according to the invention, the upper deck 26 is intended as road and pedestrian area. The upper but one deck 28 is adapted for parking with not shown ramps to the parking deck 28 at opposing outer lanes, hi the underlying floors, housing and/or business apartments are arranged in the piers 30. Between the piers 30, navigation openings 32 and thoroughfare openings 34 are arranged.

Figs. 3 and 4 are sectional views through piers for a bridge according to the invention, showing layout examples on respective storeys.

Figs. 5 and 6 are "transparent" models of a part of a bridge according to the invention, where individual piers 15, 30 are arranged with a large number of storeys with housing and business apartments, whereas the uppermost decks are arranged with roadways and parking facilities. The lowermost floors are arranged with housing or business apartments with exit to recreational areas on the protective islands 22 of the piers.

Figs. 7 and 8 are close-up views of the objects of Fig. 5, clearly showing that the protective islands 22 of the piers are arranged as outdoor recreational areas, either in the form of private terraces and gardens or as common public areas, which may be further serviced by cafes and restaurants arranged in the lower floors of the piers 15, 30 at level with the protective islands 22. It is to be mentioned that the terraces or balconies 25 shown in Figs 7 and 8 may be adapted, depending on the weather or season, to be displaced in and out in the same way as drawers in a bookshelf.

Fig. 9 shows a model of a bridge according to the invention, where a large ship is shown without passage through a navigation opening between the piers 30. Moreover, on the model is clearly seen that the piers are designed with housing or business apartments. The upper bridge deck is shown arranged as pedestrian or recreational areas.

Figs. 10 - 12 show manipulated photographs from Paris where bridges according to the invention are arranged over the Seine, so that hereby is envisaged very important supplementary thoroughfares across the Seine, while simultaneously establishing a very large number of very attractive housing and/or office apartments in attractive and expensive urban areas, as all know that sites with a view to an evocative waterway, as e.g. the Seine, are very much in demand.

Finally, it is to be noted that it will be within the main aspect of the invention to establish combined pedestrian, cycle, road and/or railway bridges of the indicated kind

with piers which are arranged with many storeys of housing and/or business apartments, which in principle may occur in any other place than where thoroughfares are passing a waterway, e.g. a "housing bridge" of the kind indicated may also advantageously be established across other traffic areas, such as railway tracks. Another possibility would be to establish housing bridges according to the invention across marshy areas, such as summer houses across beach meadows, beach areas or across port areas.