The bridge between Lisse and Lisserbroek is in need of major maintenance and will therefore be closed to all traffic this week. Pedestrians and cyclists can use the temporary pontoon, motorists are diverted via Nieuw-Vennep or Hillegom.
“The gears, a number of axles, the drive and the road surface are worn out. The electronics and computers of this bridge are outdated. The wooden piles at the bridge on the waterline are also rotting and the sheet piles are no longer what they have been. That is why it is high time that we replace all of this,” the municipality writes on its website.
“The experience had been for 25 years that the situation was unsafe”
Bert Mens, chairman of the village council, wholeheartedly agrees with the municipality. If it had been up to him, the 1968 bridge would have received a major overhaul much earlier. “The experience had been for 25 years that the situation was unsafe,” he says in conversation with NH News.
Four bridges
The current bridge is 55 years old, but for the first real cross-river connection between Lisse and Lisserbroek we have to go back much further in time. 180 years to be exact. Because the Ringvaart was dug straight through the Lisserbroekerpolder, Lisse was placed on one side and Lisserbroek on the other side of the Ringvaart.
The construction of the Ringvaart not only meant that Lisse lost part of its polder, but also that the villages were less accessible. That was a problem, as the book ‘Zo was het in Lisserbroek’ shows. After all, how were the farmers supposed to get to their land, which ended up behind the dike? And how were they to cross that water with cows, horses and loads of hay?
Read more under the photo series.
Historical photo Lisserbrug
Historic photo of swing bridge over Ringvaart
Historic photos Lisserbrug
Historic photos Lisserbrug
First, a cheap, wooden emergency bridge was built. But to compensate Lisse for the lost piece of polder, and to keep Lisserbroek accessible from Lisse, a rolling bridge was built over the Ringvaart in 1843 – this year exactly 180 years ago. “A construction that could be extended and retracted when boats passed by”, is the explanation in the history book about the village.
However, the first rolling bridge does not appear to be very durable: 34 years after its opening – in 1877 – it is replaced by a more modern version. It will remain there until 1968, when the current bridge will be opened.
The function of the river crossing has not changed over the years, but its use has. In the 19th century, it was mainly residents of Lissen who needed the bridge to reach their land or cattle on the other side of the Ringvaart, nowadays it is mostly Lisserbroek residents who cross the bridge to the much larger Lisse.
Services
“All high school students go to Lisse via the bridge,” says village council chairman Bert Mens. “All health care and shops are also on the other side of the Ringvaart. But you also see that people from Lisse go to Lisserbroek. Look at the sports clubs, for example.”
With a series of stories, NH Nieuws uses the temporary closure of the bridge between Lisserbroek and Lisse (and between North and South Holland) to enter into dialogue with users of the bridge. How important is the bridge to them and how often do they cross it? What is their destination and what is their alternative if the bridge is closed this week?