Rijkswaterstaat and the construction consortium De Groene Boog have been working on the A16 Rotterdam since 2019, an 11 km long highway connecting the A13 at Rotterdam The Hague Airport and the A16 at the Terbregseplein junction. This construction took place close to the city, in a busy environment, which was quite exciting.
That is why we opted for smart, innovative construction methods. Disruption is not always avoidable, but this way we can significantly reduce the inconvenience for residents and road users.
Temporary Road
A great example? We built a temporary road next to the future highway. This allowed trucks and other construction traffic to transport materials in and out, so they hardly had to drive on regular roads. This reduced a lot of congestion in the neighborhood: up to 80 trips per hour. But we did more...
Launching the Road Deck at Terbregseplein
At the Terbregseplein junction, we faced a complicated task. Here we had to build the A16 Rotterdam over the existing A20. While Terbregseplein is one of the busiest junctions in the Netherlands: daily, no less than 240,000 vehicles pass over it.
To ensure that traffic could continue to flow, we used a special construction method: the Incremental Launching Method. In this method, a complete bridge deck is pushed piece by piece from one side to the other, over the traffic. A proven method for road builders in mountainous areas, but this had never been seen in an urban environment.
The launching of the road deck was very slow, from north to south, at about 2.5 m per hour. Very safe, but for the traffic passing underneath, it must have been quite a sight!
In the video below, you can see how the flyover gradually came into being.
1 Tunnel, 2 Parts
For the construction of the Rottemerentunnel, we also chose an approach with less disruption. We built the tunnel in 2 parts, under the river Rotte. This allowed the Rotte to remain open for half the time.
How did that work? We started by placing sheet piles to create the construction pits. Then we could really get to work. We first worked on one side of the Rotte. We placed foundation piles in the water.
Then we placed another sheet pile in the middle of the river. This is how we built the first part of the tunnel. Then we moved everything to the other side and continued working on the tunnel there. And the nice thing was: boats, canoes, and sloops could always pass by, either way.
Viaduct Hoofdweg: Smart Planning and Combining
On the A16, just before the Terbregseplein junction where the new A16 Rotterdam connects to the existing A16, traffic travels over a viaduct. This viaduct was at the end of its lifespan and needed to be replaced.
However, that was easier said than done. How do you tackle something like that in a place where there is almost no space for a construction site? And where tens of thousands of cars drive daily, not only on the A16 but also in the surrounding Rotterdam neighborhoods? Therefore, we replaced it step by step.
We arranged for temporary detours of the A16 so that traffic could largely continue to flow, and the A16 only had to be closed for a few weekends. And what do you think about smart planning and combining? During the Ascension weekend of 2024, when we were already working on this viaduct, we received a whole new ramp in its place.
In total, we worked on the new viaduct over the Hoofdweg for more than 2 years. Successfully: with this structure, we can look forward to many more years!