A new bridge opens in 1985, that speeds travel from place to place. It is an early example of a modern style bridge but represents the last gasp of western infrastructure. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
I very much like the visuals of this stamp. A new bridge naturally makes one thing of a better future with more possibilities. Something there is less and less of in Western countries where so many stamps have us either looking back or at something that is really only aimed at a few of us. To add to the visuals, the bridge design was of the new variety, with diamond shaped concrete supports and different arrangements of steel cables. The bridge allowed a quick transit between the islands of Falster and Zealand while remaining on the modern highway. This allows quicker trips to and from Copenhagen on the island of Zealand.
Todays stamp is issue A25, a 2.8 Krones stamp issued by the Kingdom of Denmark on May 21st, 1985. It is a single stamp issue celebrating the opening of the Faro-Falster bridge. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 35 cents used.
The bridge on the stamp today was meant to reduce congestion on a much smaller bridge that dated from 1937. The older bridge was kept around for rail traffic. This bridge is now in a poor state and is unsuited for an electrified railway. So there are plans to replace it by another bridge that will incorporate two railway tracks, automobiles and a bike path. I say plans because the process for getting anything new built means that plans take decades to materialize. Funding has to go through a political process that not only includes Denmark but also the European Union. It would be crazy not to apply to them for funding but doing so adds so many years to the project that one wonders if the whole point is to make sure nothing happens. Even in the best of circumstances coordinating the dictates of two separate bureaucracies must be daunting. The infrequency of actually completing one makes one wonder about the quality of the bridge builders, now that a whole career can be spent on just one project. It does not make for well experienced bridge builders that face new and different challenges every few years.
An example of forever delays is the Fehmarn Belt project that is to take traffic off the bridge on todays stamp by creating a tunnel to connect Zealand to Germany. The project has sat on the shelf so long that the proposed route avoids the old East Germany. Remember Germany was reunited in 1990 and there are no longer travel complications from passing through its Eastern areas. Indeed it is preferable to do so from a distance point of view and also to open up more road and rail travel to Poland. The current in service date of the Fehmarn Belt tunnel is 2028 if everything stays on schedule. To scrap it and start with something more fitting to todays world would add decades to the project. I won’t hold my breath waiting for the stamp celebrating the opening of the Fehmarn Belt Tunnel.
Well my drink is empty and so I will pour another to commiserate with the modern builder. Ideas they still have but the pride that comes from making the dream a reality must have completely faded. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.