Protection for the Great Bear

Once Veenendaal – also called ‘t Veen by its own people – was a settlement of peat cutters at the lowest point in the Gelderland Valley, at the foot of the Utrecht Ridge. But time has certainly not stood still here. The swampy moorland has since given way to a thriving city of some 68,000 inhabitants, the third largest city in the province of Utrecht. Besides being an industrial and shopping city, it is also a green city. Veenendaal was even named the “Greenest City in Europe” in 1997 and the “Greenest City in the Netherlands” in 2004. The expanding industrial areas have also greatly increased traffic on the edges of the city, especially car traffic on the Great Bear, the dividing road between a shopping boulevard and a residential area with lots of greenery. To protect residents from noise pollution, a 470-meter-long existing noise barrier has now been renewed to match the green views of the residents behind it. The screen is 2 meters high, constructed of absorbent elements of the Kokowall type and will be fully vegetated. The client is the municipality of Veenendaal.