Amstelveenseweg now open again after five weeks

The construction work on the viaducts – two on the north side and three on the south side – was completed without problems. The work done by the TriAX construction consortium (Besix, Dura Vermeer and Heijmans) involved demolishing part of the existing viaduct on the south side, installing foundation piles on the central reservation of Amstelveenseweg, putting in place two huge underground footings (concrete foundation structures), positioning prefabricated supports and finally, connecting these supports by means of two huge girders – also referred to as bearer beams. On both sides of Amstelveenseweg, we also made a start building the enormous abutments that will support the ends of the two viaducts. In early August, we reported on progress made so far.

The difficult part of the work came just at the end. For the three supports on the south side, a huge bearer beam had to be transported from the TriAX work site to Amstelveenseweg. The boom of the crane that was supposed to lift the colossus onto a trailer gave way under the strain. A second crane had to be brought in at speed in order to finish the job with only a little delay. In Amstelveenseweg itself, everything ran smoothly. The bearer beam was lifted from the trailer and placed on the three supports with the utmost precision. Watch how it happened.