Rhineland variety

For the Rhineland Route project in Holland, a multifaceted road and tunnel project, mageba has been supplying bridge bearings and expansion joints of various types since 2019.

The Rhineland Route project (or “Rijnland Route” in Dutch) is a major transportation project in a part of Holland through which the Rhine river flows on its way towards Rotterdam, and involves construction of an expressway connecting the cities of Katwijk (via the A44 motorway) and Leiden (on the A4). The main contract, awarded to the COMOL5 consortium – a joint venture involving Mobilis B.V., VINCI Construction Grands Projets S.A.S. and DEME Infra Marine Contractors B.V. – is of the DBFMO type (design, build, finance, maintain and operate). The project includes rebuilding a motorway junction at Leiden West, constructing a new 4-km roadway that includes a 2.2-km tunnel, widening 12 km of motorway, and making necessary adjustments on the A4 and A44. Major challenges on the project include limited space due to the region’s very high population density (the highest in Holland, which itself has the highest density for any European country of comparable size or greater). Another unusual challenge is the high water table, which is typically just 60 cm below ground level in the project area.

Considering the constructor’s responsibility for maintaining and operating the infrastructure for a 15-year period, and handing over to the client in good condition at the end of that time, great care was taken to use well-selected, high-quality key components in the construction of the various structures. For the bridges, mageba was selected to design and manufacture a wide range of bearings and expansion joints, as follows:

With nearly all of these components now having been delivered to site and installed, we are glad to have had the opportunity to support this important infrastructure project with a range of bridge products as diverse as the regions through which the River Rhine flows on its long journey to the North Sea.

Bridge designer: wUrck
Contractor: Comol5
Owner: Provincie Zuid-Holland

Overview of the Rhineland Route project showing its various major highway junctions

(Picture: rijnlandroute.nl)

One of the major highway junctions (bird's eye view)

(Picture: rijnlandroute.nl)

One of the structures for which mageba supplied bearings and expansion joints – showing a large number of LASTO® BLOCK elastomeric bearings supporting the superstructure

(Picture: www.comol5.nl)

A LASTO® BLOCK elastomeric bearing of type B (design representation, cut-out view showing internal reinforcing plates): 348 units supplied, designed for loads of up to 2’200 kN

A LASTO® BLOCK elastomeric bearing of type NBa (design representation showing vertical section through reinforced elastomeric block): 4 units supplied, designed for loads of up to 1’946 kN, with shear disc connection to lower anchor plate to prevent the block from becoming displaced but facilitate easy replacement

A RESTON® SPHERICAL bearing (design representation, exploded view) – 18 units of various types and designs, including e.g. guided-sliding bearings designed for 38,600 kN vertical load, 1500 kN transverse load and +/- 121 mm movement. Each bearing is equipped with additional anchor plates to facilitate easy replacement should the need ever arise

A RESTON® FORCE horizontal force bearing (typical) – four units were supplied, each designed for transverse forces of 1035 kN and longitudinal movements of +/- 148 mm

A TENSA® GRIP (type RS) single gap expansion joint (design representation) – two joints supplied with a total length of 60m

A TENSA® GRIP (type RS-LS) single gap expansion joint with noise reducing surfacing, as fully installed – one of the 15 joints of this type installed in the course of the project

A TENSA® FINGER (type RSFD) cantilever finger expansion joint during installation on site