page_title: Kyrkbron, Umeå
section_title: The opposition against Kyrkbron
hierarchical_section_title: Kyrkbron, Umeå / History / The opposition against Kyrkbron
caption_attribution_description: Svenska: Kyrkbron underifrånEnglish: Kyrkbron (the Church Bridge) from below
context_page_description: Kyrkbron is a bridge in Umeå that takes Östra Kyrkogatan over Ume River to Teg on the south side. The construction of Kyrkbron started in 1973 and it was opened on 26 September 1975 becoming Umeå's third bridge over the Ume river. A discussion about whether or not the bridge should be located next to the church lasted from the early 1960s and continued into the 1970s. During the construction an unknown burial ground was encountered, leading to archaeological excavations.
  The bridge consists of two parallel girders in concrete with vertical straight supports. It is actually two separate bridges, each with their lane with on and exit ramps that extend out over the river on the north side. The purpose of building Kyrkbron was to relieve Tegsbron from some of the traffic and Kyrkbron was designed with the expectation that there would be a drastic increase in car traffic in the city center, which proved to be highly optimistic.
context_section_description: The debate on the bridge started in 1965 when the church council sent a letter to the city council stating that the church services would be disrupted by the traffic on the bridge. In June 1971 the county architect Åke Lundberg once again brought up the placement of the bridge during an information session on municipal issues in Holmsund.
  In the local media the discussion continued and various experts at the national level commented about the bridge. On 2 October 1971 the peak of the resistance was reached when a demonstration against the bridge was held in Umeå. The demonstration was initiated because a reader poll in the newspaper Västerbottens-Kuriren the previous day had shown that 84 percent were against the construction of Kyrkbron. Also the newly appointed governor Karl Georg Samuelson became involved in the opposition towards Kyrkbron.
  A few members of the Centre Party tried to stop the construction in 1973, on the grounds that the cost had risen to 45 million kronor. The motion was rejected on the ground that it would be more costly for the municipality to rework the city's land use plan and cancel existing contracts than to continue the construction. Also, there would be implications of reduced employment in the municipality if the construction did not take place as planned. The opposition towards Kyrkbron was from then on reduced.
caption: Kyrkbron from underneath. The east bridge to the left and the west bridge to the right.
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