The Hovenring is a suspended

cycle path A bike path is a bikeway separated from motorized traffic and dedicated to cycling or shared with pedestrians or other non-motorized users. In the US a bike path sometimes encompasses ''shared use paths'', "multi-use path", or "Class III bikewa ...

roundabout A roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The New Shorter Oxford En ...

in the province of

North Brabant North Brabant ( nl, Noord-Brabant ; Brabantian: ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to the we ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. It is situated between the localities of

Eindhoven Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022,Veldhoven Veldhoven () is a municipality and town on the Gender in the southern Netherlands, just southwest of Eindhoven. Topography Dutch topographic map of Veldhoven (town), Dec. 2013 Population centres The modern town of Veldhoven is an agglomerat ...

, and

Meerhoven Meerhoven is a city quarter in the Dutch city of Eindhoven. It is the newest quarter of the city and a Vinex-location, which has been under development since 1997. The development of Meerhoven was started to deal with the shortage of housing in ...

, which accounts for its name, and is the first of its kind in the world.

History

The Hovenring was first conceived of in 2008, when increased traffic between Eindhoven and Veldhoven was starting to overwhelm the capacity of the

on the crossing of the roads known as ''Heerbaan'' in Veldhoven and the ''Meerenakkerweg'' (''Heistraat''). In order to improve the flow of traffic and improve safety, it was decided to completely separate motorized and bicycle traffic. In addition, it was decided to transform the roundabout for cars into a regular crossing of streets, to improve the flow of traffic. This left a decision to be made about what to do about the bicycle traffic. The city council of Eindhoven decided that they wanted to develop an eye-catching project, in keeping with ambitions of the ''Brainport'' top technology region (a

knowledge economy The knowledge economy (or the knowledge-based economy) is an economic system in which the production of goods and services is based principally on knowledge-intensive activities that contribute to advancement in technical and scientific inno ...

-driven cooperative of the

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the Eindhoven metropolitan area). The design for the Hovenring was made by the ''ipv Delft'' design agency. The name was chosen through a competition held among the population of Eindhoven and Veldhoven. Literally the name means "ring of the Hovens", referring to Eindhoven, Veldhoven and Meerhoven (the

residential area A residential area is a land used in which housing predominates, as opposed to industrial and commercial areas. Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include single-family housing, multi-family residen ...

of Eindhoven where the Hovenring is). In addition, the name refers to the suspended ring of the Hovenring, as well as to the ring and needle (the central pylon) of lights that are formed by the lights that adorn the construction. With the addition of the lights, the name also refers to Eindhoven's unofficial designation of "city of lights". The construction started on 11 February 2011. The new crossing was opened on 30 December 2011. About a week later, the crossing was again closed for all traffic, because the suspension cables were found to vibrate in a manner that was considered harmful. The Hovenring was finally opened to the public on 29 June 2012.

Construction

Design

The Hovenring is officially a roundabout, but in fact it is a

circular Circular may refer to: * The shape of a circle * ''Circular'' (album), a 2006 album by Spanish singer Vega * Circular letter (disambiguation) ** Flyer (pamphlet), a form of advertisement * Circular reasoning, a type of logical fallacy * Circula ...

cable-stayed bridge A cable-stayed bridge has one or more ''towers'' (or ''pylons''), from which cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables or stays, which run directly from the tower to the deck, normally forming a fan-like pattern o ...

with the diameter deck suspended from a single tall central pylon by 24 cables. The entire construction is made of steel.

Vibration issues

The suspension bridge had to be closed almost immediately after delivery due to unexpected vibrations in the cables caused by the wind. An investigation of the problem was undertaken during the next several weeks by professors of

civil Civil may refer to: *Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights *Civil disobedience *Civil engineering *Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a membe ...

and

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...

from the

Eindhoven University of Technology The Eindhoven University of Technology ( nl, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven), abbr. TU/e, is a public technical university in the Netherlands, located in the city of Eindhoven. In 2020–21, around 14,000 students were enrolled in its BSc a ...

, the

Delft University of Technology Delft University of Technology ( nl, Technische Universiteit Delft), also known as TU Delft, is the oldest and largest Dutch public technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands. As of 2022 it is ranked by QS World University Rankings among ...

and

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

Alberto Zasso of the

Politecnico di Milano The Polytechnic University of Milan () is the largest technical university in Italy, with about 42,000 students. The university offers undergraduate, graduate and higher education courses in engineering, architecture and design. Founded in 186 ...

. It was finally determined that the problem was

vortices In fluid dynamics, a vortex ( : vortices or vortexes) is a region in a fluid in which the flow revolves around an axis line, which may be straight or curved. Vortices form in stirred fluids, and may be observed in smoke rings, whirlpools in th ...

of wind forming in the lee of the cables, causing far heavier

vibration Vibration is a mechanical phenomenon whereby oscillations occur about an equilibrium point. The word comes from Latin ''vibrationem'' ("shaking, brandishing"). The oscillations may be periodic function, periodic, such as the motion of a pendulum ...

s than expected during design. A solution was found by applying additional

damper A damper is a device that deadens, restrains, or depresses. It may refer to: Music * Damper pedal, a device that mutes musical tones, particularly in stringed instruments * A mute for various brass instruments Structure * Damper (flow), a mechan ...

s on the cables. Unfortunately this caused an extra delay of a month in the opening of the bridge, since the

contractor A contractor is a person or company that performs work on a contract basis. The term may refer to: Business roles * Defense contractor, arms industry which provides weapons or military goods to a government * General contractor, an individual o ...

initially mounted the dampers incorrectly.

Comparison

An important predecessor to the Dutch design is the cycle

overpass An overpass (called an overbridge or flyover in the United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth countries) is a bridge, road, railway or similar structure that crosses over another road or railway. An ''overpass'' and ''underpass'' together form ...

roundabout of Tjensvollkrysset in

Stavanger Stavanger (, , American English, US usually , ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the a ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. Opened in 2010, it bears remarkable resemblance to the Hovenring, sharing for instance its 72 m diameter. The construction is out of concrete rather than steel, and support is more conventional. Considering the Eindhoven ring was designed from 2008 onwards, the designs may very well have been conceived independently of each other. External link
aerial view of the ring on Google maps
A comparison must also be made with the 2011 circular pedestrian overpass of

Lujiazui Lujiazui, also known under its Shanghainese name Lohkatse (, , lit. meaning " heLu (surname 陸), Lu family's mouth"), is a locality in Shanghai, a peninsula formed by a bend in the Huangpu River. Since the early 1990s, Lujiazui has been dev ...

in the

Pudong Pudong is a district of Shanghai located east of the Huangpu, the river which flows through central Shanghai. The name ''Pudong'' was originally applied to the Huangpu's east bank, directly across from the west bank or Puxi, the historic city ...

district of

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

and with a similar overpass from 2012 in

Rzeszów Rzeszów ( , ; la, Resovia; yi, ריישא ''Raisha'')) is the largest city in southeastern Poland. It is located on both sides of the Wisłok River in the heartland of the Sandomierz Basin. Rzeszów has been the capital of the Subcarpathian Vo ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

Gallery

File:Fietsotonde Hovenring Eindhoven.jpg, Hovenring seen from the street File:Hovenring-full-night.jpg, Full view of Hovenring at night File:Hovenring-night-shot.jpg, Side view of Hovenring at night File:Hoven-ring-up-close.jpg, Hovenring at night up close

References

{{coord, 51, 26, 0.18, N, 5, 25, 9.49, E, display=title, type:landmark_region:NL Civil engineering Cable-stayed bridges in the Netherlands Cyclist bridges in the Netherlands Steel bridges in the Netherlands Bridges in North Brabant Towers in North Brabant Buildings and structures in Eindhoven Transport in Eindhoven