Rijkswaterstaat is working on the largest maintenance task ever to maintain the quality of our infrastructure. The Multi-Year Plan Maintenance serves as the course. 

The Netherlands relies on strong infrastructure, from bridges and tunnels to locks and dikes. Many of these structures date back to the 1950s and 1960s and are in urgent need of renovation or replacement. Our networks have been increasingly burdened over the past decades.

Due to deferred maintenance, the number of malfunctions, restrictions, and unplanned closures is increasing. Additionally, the changing climate with heat, drought, and heavy rainfall poses new demands on our infrastructure.

Faster and Smarter

The maintenance task of Rijkswaterstaat has grown significantly and is only getting bigger. The consequences of years of intensive use, aging, and deferred maintenance are clearly noticeable. If necessary maintenance and renewal are not carried out on time, the risk of malfunctions and restrictions increases further.

This in turn causes unexpected inconvenience and nuisance for the surrounding area. To better manage these risks, the work needs to get off the ground faster. Rijkswaterstaat is therefore speeding up, working more efficiently, and standardizing where possible. At the same time, there is closer collaboration with market parties, knowledge institutions, and other authorities.

Safety and reliability are paramount. Rijkswaterstaat plans tightly, bundles assignments, and works closely with partners. As a consequence, work will be done more frequently and in more places simultaneously. Due to the scale, large projects will, in addition to low-traffic periods (nights, weekends, holidays), also take place more often during the day.

Inconvenience is unavoidable with the enormous task at hand, but Rijkswaterstaat tries to minimize it as much as possible.

In the Midst of the Major Task

Rijkswaterstaat has been working on the task for some time. Dozens of projects have started, are in preparation, or are in the planning phase; some have even been completed. For example, the Kooijbrug renovation and sheet piles in the Wilhelminakanaal have been completed.

In preparation are projects such as the Ferry Arrangement Texel and the Structures A44. Work has begun, among other projects, on the renovation of the Marijkesluis and Spijkenisserbrug. A lot of work is also planned for this year and next year.

Urgency and Effects. Challenges and Choices.

In addition to all these projects, there are also necessary projects in preparation that are essential but still require financial decision-making. If necessary maintenance and renewal are not carried out on time, the chance of failures increases, leading to unexpected inconvenience and nuisance for the surrounding area.

To ensure safety, significant restrictions or even prolonged closures may be necessary. For road users, this leads to traffic jams and inconvenience. Detours over local roads burden roads that are not designed for this and cause nuisance in villages and municipalities.

Shipping often has no option to navigate around, leading to blockages. Rijkswaterstaat sees opportunities to further increase production. We are convinced that this maintenance task, however significant, is feasible. 

But this can only happen if we continue to invest in a reliable, safe, and future-proof infrastructure for the Netherlands.