A special and ambitious project, with which the Province of Zeeland experienced a first: a second life for a historic steel bridge, thanks to a synthetic bridge deck. The bridge is an important and busy link in the cycle and pedestrian traffic between East- and West-Souburg. The riveted truss bridge has been a national monument since 1997 and consists of a fixed abutment and a swing bridge.
In September 2013 Hollandia Services ‘cut’ the ‘wires’ of the bridge on location and the colossus was lifted out of the canal with two mobile cranes. The bridge was then placed on a pontoon and shipped over water to Krimpen a/d IJssel. The asphalt had been removed from the wooden deck beforehand to save on hoisting weight. A temporary emergency bridge was put in place a little further down the road. The bridge was completely stripped in the workshop: the wooden deck and loose components, such as the drive, lanterns, traffic lights, stairs and platforms were removed. When the paint was blasted off, what remained was a skeleton of bare steel.
Many parts had to be replaced. A riveted construction was used, just like the original bridge. Hollandia Services is one of the few companies in the Netherlands still familiar with the application of riveted connections. This allowed us to restore the bridge in an authentic way.