Concrete is strong and has high carrying capacity, so it is hardly surprising that bridge foundations and piers are often made of concrete. Movares has been designing concrete bridges and helping to renovate them for many decades.
River crossing design
Movares is a member of a consortium commissioned by Rijkswaterstaat (the Dutch Directorate-General of Public Works and Water Management) to widen the A27, one of the most important motorways in the Netherlands.
Road capacity is to be expanded to meet future requirements at the four major river crossings – the bridges over the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal, the River Lek, the River Merwede and the Bergsche Maas canal. Rush-hour lanes will be added to the associated motorways, junctions will be moved and modified, the capacity of the Hooipolder interchange will be expanded by adding a flyover that joins two motorways and bypasses the interchange, and a new link road will be built. This is a large-scale project, including three districts of the Directorate-General of Public Works and Water Management, three provinces, three water boards (the regional bodies that manage water and the waterways in the Netherlands) and ten municipalities (similar to town councils in the UK and counties in the US).
The consortium produced the design for the widening of the motorway, the plans for integrating the new structures into their surroundings and the structural designs for the bridges over the rivers. It also drafted the legal decision concerning the route and conducted the associated studies.
Tracks through Den Bosch
Trains heading from Den Bosch towards Nijmegen intersected with trains for Utrecht. But not any more, thanks to a new flyover, new tracks, a new steel bridge and a new railway bridge.
A new flyover on the north side of the River Dieze allows trains towards Nijmegen and Utrecht to cross each other at different levels. In addition, two new tracks now cross the Dieze, the old bridge has been replaced by a new, quieter type of bridge and a railway bridge has been built either side of the existing Dieze Bridge. And that’s not all … the track layout has been optimized to allow more efficient use of the tracks, and the two island platforms (for tracks 3/4 and 6/7) have been extended at both ends. Movares drew up the tender design for this large-scale project.
The “Sporen in Den Bosch” (Tracks Through Den Bosch) project consists of modernizing and renovating the railway system in and around Den Bosch, eliminating several bottlenecks. Two concrete trough bridges were built and a steel bridge was replaced, while ensuring minimum disruption to railway traffic.
Read more about the railway bridge and flyover project “Sporen in Den Bosch/Tracks Through Den Bosch”
A station on a viaduct
Amsterdam Hemboog Station consists of a station concourse and a 220-metre-long transparent platform canopy. The station was built on and under the existing Hemboog Viaduct, which presented a major challenge regarding both architectural and structural design. The result is a very slender canopy that tapers in width, plus a well-lit concourse where users feel safe.
Because the existing viaduct could not carry much extra load, a lightweight canopy was developed that could move with the underlying structure on all sides. The canopy was designed in such a way as to use a minimum of material. Using Freeformglass, a type of cold-bent glass developed by Movares designers, made it possible to build a canopy that was much lighter than conventional designs. The glass weighs only half as much as normal glass and is flexible. As a result, the steel structure is not only lighter but also less rigid. In addition, no foundation was required, as this lightweight canopy could be installed on the existing viaduct.
