Day trippers stroll where the water flows and larger ships will sail

“In the 1950s it was so hard for two winters that we skated here on the canal,” says Theo Willems. This Saturday he will experience a new sensation in the same place. He walks on the bottom of the same Limburg Waterweg, with around 3,600 other interested parties during this open day.

Since August last year, the Julianakanaal between Berg aan de Maas and Born has been dry for a necessary widening and deepening. In April everything is full of water again, is the plan.

Now there is a human flow from ten in the morning to four in the afternoon. Rijkswaterstaat and the executive contractors have done their best for a nice welcome: excavators, bulldozers and dumpers are set up in battle order, stalls offer information, food, drinks, pens, balloons and other gadgets. But the biggest sensation is descending to the bottom of the Julianakanaal.

The weather helps. The temporary working road between the two canal walls covered with a lot of stone turns into a busy stringer boulevard. Adults make selfies or are photographed. Toddlers and preschoolers are immortalized on top of mountains of boulders and tray planks of excavators.

A new channel

The rapidly emerging mining industry in Limburg needed better drainage options about water at the beginning of the last century. Initially, the thoughts went out to channeling the Grensmaas. But through the First World War and Stiff Consultation with Belgium, the Netherlands opted for a different solution: the construction of a 35 -kilometer new channel from Maastricht to Maasbracht. While shipping would use that new Julianakanaal, the Grensmaas could continue to meander in the familiar way.

In 1925, namer Princess Juliana, as a sixteen -year -old, put the symbolic first kick in the ground. Ten years later she returned to open the canal with her mother, Queen Wilhelmina.

There was no question of today’s colossal ships: the work must make the Julianakanaal accessible for vessels to a length of 190 meters, 11.4 meters width and a draft of 3.5 meters.

The closure of the four kilometer Julianakanaal between Berg aan de Maas and Born is part of a large-scale modernization of the sailing route between Maastricht and Weurt, a village near Nijmegen where the Maas-Waalkanaal ends in the Waal. “It concerns, among other things, the increase in locks, broadening turns, construction of passing places and about floor and widening,” says Jacques Timmermans, environment manager of Rijkswaterstaat. The total costs are around 975 million. The draining is the most expensive sub -project, it involves almost 180 million euros.

Initially, Rijkswaterstaat wanted to carry out the work here without total closure. For this, a sheet pile wall in the middle of the canal arose. The contractor was able to get started in a teeth on one side. On the other hand, the boats kept passing through a narrowed sailing route.

That’s how it went. But in February 2023 a sheet pile opened and the work tub was full of water in eight minutes. Nobody was injured and after a month everything was recovered, but the incident and eight (near) accidents on the narrowed sailing route led to a different approach. Timmermans: “With the help of a landscaped dam and an existing lock we let everything run empty. The risk would otherwise be too great. But it is a major decision on such a busy sailing route with only about 25 thousand ships a year in terms of professional shipping. ”

Leak

Timmermans and his colleagues answer questions from visitors throughout the open day. Especially the kind of men who, with every large construction project behind gates in groups, now want to know everything. For example, how to make a channel waterproof. The specialists say that the cover mats are laid half a meter over each other and that the stones on top press them well. “But a channel always leaks a bit. That is also allowed. ”

The drainage is drastic for skippers. They have to sail a huge piece, via the Albert Canal and Antwerp and through channels in the southwest of the Netherlands towards Rotterdam

Marlies and Harry Benders live in Obbicht, between the Julianakanaal and the Grensmaas. “We are awakened in the morning by the sound of the work,” says Marlies Benders. It has hardly been quiet around their village in recent years, because the Maas was also overhauled. Grind was won for river widening. They received nature and a lower flood risk in return. According to Harry Benders, work is being done very precisely and efficiently. “Well,” says Marlies Benders, “one of the bridges has been out of use for a while. We had to use a bridge a few kilometers away. “

For skippers, the reclamation is more radical. They have to sail a huge part, via the Albert Canal and Antwerp and through channels in the southwest of the Netherlands towards Rotterdam. The less large ships can also choose the Zuid-Willemsvaart from Maastricht, which again leads to the Maas via Belgian Limburg, Helmond, Veghel and Den Bosch. Royal Inland Shipping The Netherlands therefore regretted the long -term drainage of the part of the Julianakanaal. But spokesperson Mark Lammers is satisfied with the smooth performance.

Calculate skippers because of the detour higher rates. The companies that they hire can be reimbursed for additional costs through a compensation scheme. It is in any case. Lammers hopes that entrepreneurs have not finally opted for other transport options, by road or by rail. “Then we don’t just have them back.”

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