Plenty of bridges built in Sweden during the cold war has the openings in the foundation for the same purpose.
Mildly Interesting
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This is obviously an objective criteria, so the mods are always right. Or maybe mildly right? Ahh.. what do we know?
Just post some stuff and don't spam.
That sounds a lot more efficient. Just hanging the explosives isn't going to direct the energy very well.
Here's a nearby railroad bridge with an opening left for the explosives instead of hooks. Different bridges use different methods.

Thats the same design the bridges here in Austria/Vienna over the Danube have; cold war planning was to delay while our military retreats into the mountains, the plains were thought to be indefensible. Looking at Ukraine will have changed a lot of minds regarding defense planning.
Not necessarily. Drones can level a position or terrorize civilians, but you can't securely hold that position or occupy territory with them. For now, there is no replacement in that job - your infantry and armor are still doing that work.
Could as well be a bridge in Germany.
I always thought that's where the shock absorbers are placed to distribute shock (duh) and load.
Maybe that's the point? You need to be able to blow the bridge, but you don't want some asshole to be able to make some homemade explosive to blow it just because they feel like it
I have heard the same thing about semiconductor factories in Taiwan. Don't know if it's true or urban legend.
Wouldn't surprise me - their chip foundries are the most robust defense they have. If they were gone, Taiwan would be "just another Island that will cause you loads of headache internationally and because of a nearly guaranteed resistance - and you expended a lot of resources for it on top"
They’re 100% going scorched earth if China manages to make landfall
They’ll literally put the world to a post-apocalyptic state, we can’t get new chips for any electronics in quantity for a good half decade or more.
I wouldn't say post-apocalyptic. Yes, we won't have access to performant new chips anymore, but most critical infrastructure doesn't need performant new chips. It would be a rough period, for sure, but not apocalyptic
And if worst came to worst, the military/government could requisition consumer equipment, or less critical business equipment
Cold-War era strategic Autobahn segments in West Germany had covered shafts at regular intervals.
Rumors had it that they were supposed to be fitted with small tactical nukes in the case the Sowjet tanks were on the verge of crossing the border...
Edit:
Found the relevant Wikipedia article (only in German, though...):
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebra-Paket
There were also plans to bury nuclear landmines stuffed with chickens across Germany.
Britain: Some of you will be reduced to nuclear ash, but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make.
Today I learned something new, and it was completely insane. Thank you.
While reading that I thought they intended to make mounds akin to the ones made by megapodes (sort of chicken-like), but now I understand why people have mistaken a declassified data for an April Fools
I never expected to read the term "chicken powered nuclear bomb" in a serious Wikipedia article. Yet here we go!
BTW, I think we have left the mildly interesting context by now... :-)
Thank you for that link. Now I'm surprised I haven't seen it used in a meme yet.
Be the change you want to see in the world.
We still have furrows with ca. 1 meter cement blocks all over the place in Switzerland. They are usually full of shrubs and valuable ecological niches. Also a great defence against Panzers.
I thought you had exploding roads.
*bridges
I've read it described as "bridges, tunnels, roads and airstrips". It makes sense to diversify.
Isn't that a swiss thing as well?
Yeah cold war logic was paranoid. Nuclear bunkers in essentially every building built during the cold war, highway segements were built with fighter jet landing capabilities. And yeah I believe many bridges have explosive “capabilities”.
Norway as well
Similarly in South Korea as well, there are a bunch of overpasses that are just filled with rocks to drop in case they need to deny the roads against an invasion.
Same for tunnels in Germany
Could you give me a source for this?
Preferably a Finnish one. Not by language (although am Finnish so not an issue) but like a reliable source in Finland documenting that's what they're for?
I know we do have lots of infra designed "in case of Russian attack", mainly the direction of roads on the eastern border, but I'd like to read up on this blowing bridges shit.
I'm not sure if this is something you'll find an official source for as FDF isn't known for openly sharing information regarding national defence.
However, you can find plenty of discussion about it online and for example on this video it's mentioned around the 1:25 mark.
Yeah but I don't see those hooks as being related. You don't really need hooks like that to blow a bridge and that's a small underpass of a regular road. You could cave that with a few sticks of TNT. And drilling them into the wall is much more efficient than hanging them off the wall.
I just suspect these hooks are just remnants of building it, and not for any specific purpose. Don't really care if I'm wrong but I won't be dissuaded unless someone actually proves it properly.
Drilling is slow. Efficiency isn't the point here, speed is.
This isn't exactly a regular road either but highway number four which leads straight to Helsinki.
You can see these same hooks on the support pillars of most bridges as well. Once you start paying attention to it you can't really unsee it.

Yeah I've seen them as I've driven Turku-Hki highway 1 and the old nr 1 as well.
For me it'd be much more believable if we we're talking about eastern cities. The road infra around the eastern border, no matter how clearly designed against an invasion from the East, was not talked about for decades. But they've since loosened the policy.
I understand the logic. I just don't buy into it. I understand I can be wrong but eh, until further evidence is presented this is my opinion.
Drilling is slow, yes, but explosives not in a structure just hanging on a hook outside are very much not efficient at destroying the structure. So if that's the case, you'd pre-drill holes for explosives. Which they apparently do do in the East.
I do find confirmation of plans to destroy the bridges, but the words used are "charge pits" or panostustila/panostusaukko in Finnish.
I just can't believe it'd be silly hooks like that so close. That to me seems just like the steel that's strengthening the concrete.
I mean its also very much usable for other stuff like hanging up temporary cables and hoses and in practice its probably used for things like that more often.
The sapper units train how to blow up every bridge in their deployment area. Sauce: was in one
Ah, I think it’s for hanging Christmas lights.
I'm pretty sure that all bridges in Poland are designed to be easily blown up.