What exactly happened?
Rijkswaterstaat has been broadening the Schiphol Bridge for some time. This bridge connects the new Meer with Schiphol-Oost. During the broadening, so -called joints are placed between the bridge deck and the highway. Last weekend things went wrong there. A contractor caused damage to the bridge when a gap was drilled in the concrete for the joint transition, the concrete iron was accidentally hit.
It is not clear how that could happen. “On drawings, it should be clearly visible where those steel bars are exactly,” a spokesperson told NH earlier. “It could not be that they were not at the place where they expected it, or perhaps they were carelessly. We are looking for that.” On Monday evening it was decided that the bridge was not safe enough to drive over. For that reason Rijkswaterstaat decided to close the A9.
What was the result?
The closure of the A9 caused a huge hustle and bustle on the road during the morning and evening rush hour. Also in the evening the A9 remained closed, making it busy again in the rush. Last night the old bridge deck, which was used for work, was released for traffic. Rijkswaterstaat estimated that the road would be passable again on Wednesday before the morning rush hour. That also succeeded.
How long will it take before the concrete has recovered?
According to a spokesperson for Rijkswaterstaat, there is little to say about that. “Calculations are being done at the moment to see how strong the bridge is.” When that will be repaired exactly is difficult to estimate. “But rather earlier than later.” It is also unclear to what extent the damage to the bridge will cause delay in the general project.
Does the A9 have to close more often?
“Almost never. Closing a road only happens if it really has to be and in this case it was also the case,” says the spokesperson. “I’ve never experienced it before.”
Will travelers suffer from this?
Road users who are not the amount of the damage and activities, nothing stands out, says the spokesperson. “If you don’t know, you have no idea. We’ve been working at the bridge for a long time, so we assume that they actually don’t notice anything when they drive on the old road surface of the bridge.”