Moerdijk Bridges

The Moerdijk Bridges connect the island of Dordrecht in the province of South Holland with the province of Noord-Brabant on the Hollands Diep . They are named after the villageMoerdijk on the south side of the bridge.

From west to east are a road, the double-track bridge Hollands Diep for HSL, and a two-track bridge for the railway Dordrecht - Lage Zwaluwe .

The first bridge, built at the end of the 19th century, was a railway bridge , and was opened in January 1871 . The second bridge for car traffic, was built in the thirties . Runs about16 highway . On May 10, 1940, after a German airborne landings around the two abutments for some time fought hard to hold the Moerdijk bridges.

In the fifties the railway bridge was replaced with a wider one and so is the road bridge in the seventies . Meanwhile, there is the construction of the high speed line ( HSL ) added a third bridge. The Moerdijk bridges are an important part of the connection from the west to the south of the Netherlands (and on to Belgium and France).

Contents

 * 1 Railway
 * 2 Verkeersbrug
 * 3 HSL bridge
 * 4 See also
 * 5 External link

[Spoorbrug edit ]
Engraving of the railway bridge at the opening, in L'Illustration Européenne

The first Moerdijk Bridge was opened on 1 January 1872 . The single- truss bridge consisted of fourteen arched spans of more than a hundred meters each, which were built on the shore and then to their place were dangers. The bridge was constructed by the Royal Van Vlissingen & Dudok van Heel. Upon opening the Moerdijk Bridge was the longest bridge in Europe. For the purpose of shipping the bridge on the Brabant side could be opened by means of a swing bridge. The bridge was used by trains, which had their end-to-day opening in the port of the little further on Moerdijk on the south side respectively in Willemsdorp on the north side.

In 1944 the bridge was destroyed by the Germans to the Allies to withdraw to prevent western Netherlands. Here are some piers was irreparably damaged, repair the bridge greatly delayed. In addition, priority was given to the rapid temporary restoration of the bridge, which were borrowed some spans of the railway bridge. Only in 1946 the repaired railway bridge was put into operation again. In connection with material shortages got the new bridge not fourteen, but only ten spans. The sand dam at the north end of the bridge 400 meters was extended to fill the gap. At the same time Willemsdorp stop was lifted and the narrow railway arch that led to the bridge widened driveway and pushed back. Early 50's were led by the young engineer CL Wisse replace the single-arch steel bridge by the current double- truss bridge . 14 different steel companies from around the country were involved in the production of huge quantities of steel were required for the 10 new spans. Because rail traffic as little as possible could find was one of the spans for two years to replace one whole. In 1955 the new railway bridge was entirely finished.

[Verkeersbrug edit ]
Gereedkoming bridge in 1936

On 12 December 1936, was west of the railway bridge, the Moerdijk bridge for car traffic into use. It was built by the firm of Penn & Bauduin from Dordrecht . Like the railway bridge was also the bridge for road traffic from steel spans each approximately one hundred meters long, although this bridge with ten spans initially it was shorter than the railway bridge.The road bridge was in September 1944, destroyed by the Germans to the Allies to prevent to draw in Western Netherlands, but was after the Second World War to be restored, first temporarily, later in original state. Over the years the amount of traffic has grown enormously, making the Moerdijkbrug was a bottleneck in motorway A16 . In 1978 the steel spans were therefore replaced by a much wider steel girders. This new bridge parts are built by the firm of Penn & Bauduin. The pillars were in such a state that without too much modification could be maintained. In both directions space was created for three lanes and a bicycle path .

The bridge was built in 1978, in 1980 awarded the National Steel Prize .

The old bridge was not demolished, but elsewhere reused. Four parts were used to replace the old bridge Spijkenisse on the Oude Maas at Spijkenisse . The remaining six replaced the old spans of the bridge at Keizersveer the Bergsche Maas . There the middle spans were to be shortened a few meters to fit between the existing (and broadened) pillars. A remainder of this truncation, two trusses of the old bridge, with herein memorial relief was placed in 1936 in the middle of the old bridge (Frits van Hall), has teamed up as a monument beside the new road bridge (see fig.).

HSL bridge [ edit ]
Bridge over the Hollands Diep, May 21, 2004

The construction of the HSL made ​​the construction of a third Moerdijk Bridge ( Bridge Hollands Diep ) is required. In 2000 started the construction of the by Benthem Crouwel Architects designed "kattenrug". The steel bridge components were built by Mercon Steel Structures in Gorinchem.

Unexpected movement during the placing of one of the bridge sections is an employee got caught and deceased.

The HSL bridge is located a few dozen meters west of the existing railway bridge and also has ten spans. The pillars stand in the flow direction of view of the river, in line with those of the existing railway bridge, so there are no additional obstacles to shipping arise. The HSL-bridge has a distinctive shape, which is made ​​up of Y-shaped bearingswhich pass almost seamlessly in the steel, tubular spans. In October 2004, with dozens of truckloads of sand tested whether the bridge would bend a few centimeters would in fact already be disastrous for the fast train. Eventually, the bridge turned out to only 12 mm down.

The first high-speed train, the new bridge passed in 2006 during a test drive of about 300 kilometers per hour.

A model in scale 1: 160 of the HSL bridge is to be found in family attraction Miniworld Rotterdam in Rotterdam. However, this is a smaller version with 4 spans and approximately 2.5 meters in length.

See also [ edit ]

 * Hollands Diep bridge

External link [ edit ]

 * The battle for the Moerdijk Bridge in May 1940
 * Human & Animal in Stone & Bronze Monument Moerdijkbrug