The A9, the freeway that splits the municipality of Amstelveen in two, is going through a complete overhaul. The road will be deepened and widened over a length of 1.6 kilometers in the coming years. There will be three canopies and the number of lanes on each roadway will go from 3 to 4.

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The new road will soon be an average of 8 meters lower than it is now. By 2026, the entire work should be completed. Before that happens, a lot of by-passes, temporary bridges, overpasses and on and off ramps have to be built to ensure that normal traffic can continue during the work.

Important links in the whole “spaghetti” design of detour roads are the temporary viaducts, consisting of steel bridges made by Janson Bridging, part of the Van Schie Group. Among them are bridges with a length of around 60 meters and an average weight of 60 tons. Telescopic cranes from Van Schie Crane Rental lift them into place.

Important detail: after the bridge is hung in the correct position, a flatbed trailer with pontoons is placed under it for safety (see photo). Using the car’s hydraulic suspension, the pontoons can then be clamped under the viaduct, allowing the mechanics to do their work safely.

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