The hospital parking garage accommodates 1,450 cars. When the six driveway ramps collapsed like a house of cards on the late Sunday evening of May 26, no one had any idea why only the ramps were affected and not the parking decks, since all the floors were still fully intact. A thorough investigation by the Dutch Safety Board (OVV) should provide the answer. For months, the owners – mainly hospital employees – could not dispose of their vehicle. But more importantly, they could not access their personal belongings. Think laptops, house keys, car papers and bank cards. However, all those affected were provided with a loaner car.
Smooth salvage
Experts eventually determined that the parking decks were safe; they turned out to be of a totally different construction than the ramps. After the salvage plan was approved by the municipality of Nieuwegein, the 15 cars that were on the first floor were first removed from the parking garage. The remaining vehicles, spread over six floors, had to be put out of their misery in a different way. For this, Van Schie devised a construction consisting of “stacking pontoons. A stable tower, onto which the vehicles could be driven floor by floor. The pontoons have a completely flat floor. They have an anti-slip deck and fit together like a Lego system. Car salvage company Modern was able to easily hoist the cars off with a telescopic crane and then transport them with car trailers to a central location. Thus, in two days, 114 cars were safely returned to ground level. Fourteen cars still had to remain in the parking garage because they were in an unsafe spot or were still covered in debris.
