Skip to main content

Planning Netherland's underground highways

The first agreements for Amsterdam’s proposed underground highway have now been reached. These have been made by the Dutch Minister for the Environment and Transport as well as Amsterdam local authority and the province of North-Holland. Under the agreed terms, the A10 highway will feature 12 lanes of traffic in four 1.2km tunnels under the capital, Amsterdam. The project will also include building metro and rail lines underground.
May 15, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
he first agreements for Amsterdam’s proposed underground highway have now been reached. These have been made by the 1346 Dutch Minister for the Environment and Transport as well as Amsterdam local authority and the province of North-Holland.

Under the agreed terms, the A10 highway will feature 12 lanes of traffic in four 1.2km tunnels under the capital, Amsterdam. The project will also include building metro and rail lines underground.

The highway and rail lines form a 150m barrier at present in between Amsterdam and the suburb of Buitenveldert. Amsterdam has been campaigning for a number of years to have the highway and rail lines slotted underground to pave the way for building and general development above. Two new proposals have been made that would feature four tunnels side-by-side rather than a more-expensive two-tier system. These would allow rail and metro lines to be placed in five tunnels above the highway, reducing the estimated cost to e1.74 billion, of which the government would provide e775 million. Using the newly released land could generate e1.165 billion, a profit of up to e199 million and putting the project on a sound economic foundation. If final approval is given in 2010, construction of the highway could be complete in 2016.

However, a report into the proposed road tunnel under Rijnstrangen in the Netherlands suggests that the project would exceed the budget. The report was carried out by consultancy firm Strukton, which has released the information to the authorities in Zevenaar, Groessen and Duiven that an 8km road tunnel under the Rijnstrangen green area is possible, but that construction alone would cost e1.2 billion, considerably more than the e750 million budgeted for the work. Local communities propose that the A15 be extended to meet the A18 in a bid to ease congestion in the region, but the notion has been knocked back by the Transport Ministry due to concerns over sustainability. Central government prefers a solution via the A12, which would impact the Groessen community.

Meanwhile the contract for the fast-track project B has been awarded to 1348 VolkerInfra, Combinatie 1349 Van Hattum en Blankevoort, 1350 KWS INfra, 1355 Boskalis and 1357 Hollandia. The contract concerns the widening and relocation of the N50 national road between Rampsol and Ens. The new road is to open in spring 2013.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Brazil’s Parana state continues with infrastructure investment
    January 8, 2015
    The Brazilian state government of Parana has spent around US$1.73 billion on infrastructure projects over the past four years, including roads, railways, airports, ports and public buildings. According to Jose Richa Filho, the state’s infrastructure secretary, more investments will be made by local partners and through international financing. Around $3.63 million for road works between 2015 and 2018 with fund coming from partnerships with Votorantim and Klabin. Votorantim Group is one of the largest
  • State of the art tunnel a conservation triumph
    May 2, 2012
    The opening of a 1.8km tunnel in southern England is designed to ease traffic bottlenecks in an environmentally sensitive area. Patrick Smith reports
  • State of the art tunnel a conservation triumph
    February 28, 2012
    The opening of a 1.8km tunnel in southern England is designed to ease traffic bottlenecks in an environmentally sensitive area. Patrick Smith reports
  • Transstroy’s ambitions for Sochi 2014 Olympics and beyond
    September 30, 2013
    Igor Pankin is CEO of Transstroy, one of Russia’s largest transport infrastructure construction companies, a part of Oleg Deripaska’s Basic Element group. Created in 1992, the company has completed major construction projects with a combined worth of more than €4 billion (RUB 121 billion) The Olympic motto, ‘Swifter, Higher, Stronger’, is very appropriate for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics – and not just in reference to the action in its stadiums and on its slopes. The city has been transformed from a small