Tour 1: Amsterdam beltways

Both the Amsterdam beltway A10 and the south-east peripheral freeway A9-A1-A6 display a variety of innovative geometric highway solutions with combinations of collector-distributor roads, weaving sections, rush-hour lanes, tidal flow lanes, tunnels, world’s largest aqueduct and advanced traffic management systems. This bus tour, guided by highway experts, will take you along highlights of recent Dutch highway projects in the Amsterdam area.

Coenplein interchange and Coentunnel
This complex interchange, including tidal flow lanes and tunnels, is a part of the Amsterdam A10 beltway and connects freeways A8 (Zaandam) and A5 (Westport).

Badhoevedorp interchange
This curved design of the A4 and A9 interchange originates from the plan to build a beltway around the village of Badhoevedorp and connects the important gateway with Schiphol International Airport.

Gaasperdammertunnel (site visit)
This tunnel is built half deep (partially below ground level), to reconnect both sides of the A9 and create public space on top of the tunnel. The tunnel is part of the A9 beltway south-east of Amsterdam and has 2×2 lanes for the freeway traffic (and 2 spare lanes for future expansion), 2×3 lanes connector-distributor roads and one tidal flow lane in the median. Halfway the tunnel, a junction connects the urban street with the collector-distributor road.

Railway bridge and Europe’s largest aqueduct
At Aqueduct Vechtzicht, the 12 lanes of freeway A1 cross river the Vecht near Muiden underneath. With a length of 200 meters and a width of 65 meters, this construction is the widest aqueduct in Europe. The construction is part of the Project Schiphol-Amsterdam-Almere, for which the A1 is widened at this point. The official name is Aqueduct Vechtzicht, named after a former farm, that has had to been removed for the construction.  The aqueduct has 2×5 lanes and 2 tidal flow lanes. The length of the closed section is approximately 240 meters. On top of the construction of the aqueduct there is about 2.6 meters of water. Due to the poor ground quality on the spot, approximately 5,300 piles had to be used for the foundation. With the construction of the new aqueduct, the A1 has moved 300 meters south compared to the former alignment of the A1 with bascule bridges.
For local traffic there has been constructed a separate, new bridge (the Spieringbrug), which lies between the old and new route of the A1.