Bridge linking Denmark, Sweden sets traffic record

File photo of the Oresund Bridge. [Photo/Agencies]

COPENHAGEN -- The Oresund Bridge linking Denmark with Sweden has set a new traffic record with more than 30, 000 vehicles crossing in one day over the weekend, the bridges's management office said on Monday.

A total of 30,955 vehicles crossed the bridge in just 24 hours on Saturday, overtaking the previous record by more than 1,700 cars, the office said in a press release.

Holiday traffic has boosted the use of the bridge, and there was no specific event that has generated the high traffic on Saturday, said Karsten Langerich, head of the private market unit of the Oresund Bridge.

"Business is good for both countries, and both Danes and Swedes travel more than they did a year ago," Langerich added.

The previous record of 29,192 cars was made in 2014 when there was an ongoing train strike, according to the management office.

Completed in 1999 and put into operation in July 2000, the Oresund Bridge is a double-track railway and dual carriageway bridge between Danish capital Copenhagen and Sweden's coastal city of Malmo across the Oresund Strait.

As the longest combined road and rail bridge in Europe, it runs nearly 8 km from the Swedish coast to the artificial island of Peberholm, which lies in the middle of the strait. A 4-km underwater tunnel, the Drogden Tunnel, links the bridge with the other end in Copenhagen's island of Amager.