Dronrijp movable bridge

design outline

The existing Dronrijp bridge across the Harinxma Canal in the Dutch province of Friesland has reached its end of life and needs to be replaced. In order for the canal to be accessible to larger vessels, the new bridge is to have a larger clearance than its predecessor. The design brief for this new movable bridge included a basic design outline for all bridges across this particular canal. The new bridge should have a horizontal focus, with vertical elements. The bottom side of the movable deck should be bright red.

efficient

Based on this brief, we made the winning design. It is a particularly efficient design, with the bridge deck placed in between the pylons. The crossbeams connecting deck and pylons are integrated into the bridge deck. To emphasize its function, we decided to paint the driving mechanism red as well.

integration

The vertical elements combine many functions. Lighting, speakers, traffic signals, rising arm barriers, cameras and even a weather station have been integrated into these vertical objects, which results in a neat and tidy overall look.

steel structure

The entire bridge will be constructed in steel on a concrete footing. This way, building it will be fast and traffic obstruction will be minimized. The bridge is set to be completed in early 2019.

project location