The Van Brienenoord Bridge (Dutch: ''Van Brienenoordbrug'') is a large twin

tied-arch A tied-arch bridge is an arch bridge in which the outward horizontal forces of the arch(es) caused by tension at the arch ends to a foundation are countered by equal tension of its own gravity plus any element of the total deck structure such grea ...

motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...

bridge 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 ...

. Located at the east side of

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte (river), Rotte'') is the second largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the Prov ...

, it crosses the New Meuse (''Nieuwe Maas''), a major distributary of the river

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. The bridge actually consists of two separate, parallel, and (visually) almost identical arch-bridges, as well as a set of three parallel

bascule bridges A bascule bridge (also referred to as a drawbridge or a lifting bridge) is a moveable bridge with a counterweight that continuously balances a span, or leaf, throughout its upward swing to provide clearance for boat traffic. It may be single- or ...

on the north end.
The bridge carries 12 lanes of traffic of the A16 motorway, the busiest highway in the Netherlands. Additionally, on the outside of the east arch, a two-way segregated cycling bridge has been mounted.
Including lead-up ramps, the Van Brienenoord Bridge is 1320 metres long and vessels with up to 24 metres

air draft Air draft (or air draught) is the distance from the surface of the water to the highest point on a vessel. This is similar to the " deep draft" of a vessel which is measured from the surface of the water to the deepest part of the hull below th ...

can pass under the closed bridge. With a span of 300 m, the west arch is the longest span road bridge in the Netherlands. Traffic exceeds 235,000 vehicles crossing the bridge daily, using four 3-lane

carriageway A carriageway (British English) or roadway (North American English) consists of a width of road on which a vehicle is not restricted by any physical barriers or separation to move laterally. A carriageway generally consists of a number of tra ...

s, in an express versus local / distributor arrangement.

History

The east arch (287.5 m long) was built in 1965, constituting the original Van Brienenoord Bridge. In 1990 the bridge received a major upgrade, by the addition of a second, almost identical arch (305 m long and slightly broader) right next to its west flank, doubling its traffic capacity.
The bridge is named after the ''Eiland van Brienenoord'' (Isle of Brienenoord) in the river, on which some of its pillars are built. The little island was named after its former owner, baron Arnoud Willem van Brienen van de Groote Lindt in 1847. The Dutch suffix ''oord'' means a place. An average of 150.000 ships pass the bridge every year. Approximately 500 of these ships require the bridge to be opened, a process which takes 18 minutes total. Suspending road traffic and opening the bridge takes 4 minutes, letting the ship pass takes 10 minutes, and closing the bridge requires another 4 minutes. During this time, road traffic is blocked by boom barriers. As of November 2005, the bridge is no longer controlled locally but from the nearby city of

Rhoon 200px, Castle Rhoon 200px, frameless Rhoon is a village that borders the municipality of the city of Rotterdam, South Holland, the Netherlands. According to its history it was established in 1199 and was ruled by the ''lords of Duiveland''. ...

, where the region's Road Traffic Control is located.
A request to open the bridge for shipping needs to be made at the harbor authorities at least three hours in advance. An electro-mechanical failure on 17 March 2006 left the bridge open for about an hour, on the middle of day, causing

traffic jam Traffic congestion is a condition in transport that is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. Traffic congestion on urban road networks has increased substantially since the 1950s. When traffic de ...

s up to 7 kilometres in length. The western bridge was closed first, restoring traffic to

Breda Breda () is a city and municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Brabant. The name derived from ''brede Aa'' ('wide Aa' or 'broad Aa') and refers to the confluence of the rivers Mark and Aa. Breda has ...

. The eastern bridge was closed at approximately 1 AM, restoring traffic to

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

and

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...

. On 5 November 2006 it failed to close again, this time due to an

electrical Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...

failure, forcing engineers to close the bridge manually.

References

External links

Van Brienenoordbrug - Bridge opening Youtube
{{Coord, 51, 54, 14, N, 4, 32, 33, E, display=title, region:NL_type:landmark_source:nlwiki Tied arch bridges Bascule bridges Bridges completed in 1965 Bridges completed in 1990 Bridges over the Rhine Road bridges in the Netherlands Steel bridges in the Netherlands Bridges in Rotterdam