ABSTRACT
The coastal highway route E39 in Norway includes several extreme fjord crossings where the designers need to find new solutions for the long and deep crossings. One of the proposed structural concepts is the Submerged Floating Tube Bridge, a type of structure never built. The lack of technology, especially related to the marine operations and the anchoring to the seabed, has lowered the confidence of the designers regarding these structures. Today, after several studies have been done in the E39 project in Norway, it is time to pursue further design and construction of this promising bridge concept. The paper retraces the challenges faced in the studies done for the Norwegian project, from the lack of rules and regulations to the challenges due to calculation methods, software, and the validation methods and testing. The work done in studies for the E39 project proves the true feasibility of these structures.
