New northern Schinkelbrug under development

If you look upwards at the Nieuwe Meersluis lock, it is hard to imagine a new section of the A10 Zuid on a brand-new bridge here. Components for that bridge are currently being built on our work site next to the river Schinkel. Cyclists are facing the closure of one of the two lock crossings, because we need that space in order to build safely. This is particularly challenging construction work, says planning engineer Emma van Dam, who works for the contractor TriAX (Besix, Dura Vermeer and Heijmans): ‘The bridge will be right next to the existing bridge for the A10 Zuid, and also needs to be able to open for passing vessels at the lock. This is very much precision work and requires a great deal of ingenuity.’

We are starting by making space. All of the tiles, barrier gates and signal lights have been removed and the same is now happening to the cables and pipelines. Underground, we are also demolishing an old concrete retaining wall on the Nieuwe Meersluis lock dating from 1954. This no longer serves any purpose and, together with some old sheet piling, is getting in the way of our new construction pit. In mid-April, we will insert the sheet piling for the construction pit into the ground. ‘That’s why we’ve closed the cycle path there until August 2027’, explains Van Dam, ‘our construction pit will be where the cycle path was.’ Incidentally, the sheet piling will remain in the ground after construction work and will become part of the ‘secondary flood defences already in place’.

The side view of the northern lock crossing shown below. The diagonally inserted wooden piles can be clearly seen underneath the concrete retaining wall. (Building specifications drawn by the Amsterdam Public Works Department, 1939)

The location also creates challenges here, says Van Dam: ‘A bascule cellar basically just needs to be a square concrete box. But because we’re having to build partly alongside and across the lock, this cellar will have an asymmetric shape. This is also because of the cycle path that we will be reinstating later on – it runs underneath the bascule cellar. That’s also making the design more complicated.’

There will also be a support on the other side of the lock, but this requires a different solution. When the lock opens, the lock gate rolls back into its chamber, cut out of the canal wall. That is exactly the place where the weight of the bridge needs to rest on solid ground. Van Dam: ‘That’s why we are building an additional structure across the lock gate chamber: the pizza slice.’ This consists of supports on both sides of the lock gate chamber, on top of which there is a strut in the form of a slice of pizza that distributes the weight of the bridge across both of the supports.

In early 2026, we will hoist the girders for the bridge deck onto the supports. This will be followed later in the year by the steel leaf of the bridge, that will be lifted into position using three cranes. The finishing can then start, with the installation of noise barriers, barrier gates, bridge signalling and parapets. We will then apply a new layer of asphalt to make it possible to test the bascule bridge and all its systems at the end of 2027. In 2028, traffic will use the new bridge and shipping traffic will be able to pass under it. ‘It really is a very complex job’, says Van Dam, ‘but that’s actually what makes it so enjoyable.’