The importance of infrastructure
Although the Netherlands are known for its well-developed infrastructure; population growth, economic development and urbanisation have led to an increase in the use of Dutch infrastructure. Increasing traffic density and its use have led to challenges regarding ageing and the capacity of the infrastructure. In the coming decades, the Netherlands face a large task of renewing their civil infrastructure.
A24 Blankenburgverbinding
A new connection with an impact on the entire Rotterdam region. Rijkswaterstaat commissioned Ballast Nedam and consortium partners DEME and Macquarie Capital to build the new A24 Blankenburgverbinding. The contract includes the design, construction, 20 years of maintenance, and approximately 1 billion euro financing. With two junctions, a land tunnel and a tunnel beneath the river Het Scheur, we aim to improve the accessibility of the Rotterdam region and contribute to the economy's growth.
Shaping environments through infrastructure
We want to perform our work responsibly. We are constantly working to make our construction sites and our construction process more sustainable so that our projects have a lasting, positive impact. For infrastructure projects, we work with environmental cost indicator calculations. We are increasingly using electric equipment and we prevent the use of new raw materials by designing and building in a detachable and adaptable way and by using reused and recycled materials as much as possible. Furthermore, we developed a unique reflective asphalt mixture jointly with Rijkswaterstaat. In addition to annual energy savings, this type of asphalt is also produced using 30% less energy. We are well on our way to emission-free construction by 2030.
A27 Everdingen-Hooipolder
Third place in the traffic jam top 10: that will change for A27 Houten-Hooipolder. Rijkswaterstaat is tackling this bottleneck by, among other things, improving 40 kilometres of motorway between Everdingen and Hooipolder. This large project has been awarded to Ballast Nedam and Fluor Infrastructure. We join forces under the name 'ALSÉÉN'.
Our environment team holds regular discussions with all stakeholders such as municipalities, entrepreneurs and residents in the region. In addition, the impact on the surrounding area and nature was considered from the tender stage onwards. For instance, we will use emission-free equipment as much as possible, construct 3.5 kilometres of nature-friendly banks, install 630 insect hotels and scatter a flowery grass mixture on the verges. We will also install 260 traffic signs made of recycled aluminium, 615 traffic signs made of sustainable rice husk, 2,079 reflector posts made of recycled PVC and 831 bottle posts made of bamboo.
