Aerial photographs provide a fascinating view of progress on the Blankenburg connection (A24) in the Rotterdam area. This new motorway connects the A20 at Vlaardingen with the A15 at Rozenburg. The road is hidden in a sunken trough and a land tunnel in the Aalkeetpolder, and crosses the shipping route in het Scheur through a deep immersed tunnel. Architectural studio ZJA was commissioned to design the tunnels, viaducts, service buildings and intersections.
At the Holland Tunnel, the open cutting is flanked by reeds. The local road, the Zuidbuurt, crosses the tunnel by ingenious means; the flanking watercourses are cut into the roof of the tunnel so that the complete road profile, including verges and ditches, continues without interruption. The service building that contains technical installations for the tunnel is designed to resemble a wooden shed in a farmyard, surrounded by reeds and ditches.
The intersections on the Blankenburg connection intensify the experience of the landscape. The flyovers across the A15 are almost 25 metres above the surrounding industrial zone and are cut into an earthen pyramid covered in flower-rich grassland.
The intersection with the A20, by contrast, is well below ground level; the new A24 dives under the existing motorway, so that the peat-meadow landscape is disturbed as little as possible.
The completion of the Blankenburg connection is planned for 2024.
From our projects on the Zuidas in Amsterdam to the N206 Tjalmaweg from Katwijk to Leiden and the Blankenburg connection near Rotterdam: on…
