Reconstruction of N264 calls for smart solutions from BAM Infra Nederland

On behalf of the province of North Brabant, BAM Infra Nederland is busy improving traffic flow and increasing traffic safety on the N264. This project includes various interventions, such as replacing traffic circles with intersections with intelligent traffic lights, as well as the transformation of a bicycle tunnel into a bicycle street. According to Rick van der Wielen, BAM project manager, this project is a great example of how they dare to be progressive together with the Province. How this translates into practice, more about that in this article.  

"The N264 project is no ordinary project," said Rick. "Due to the expiration of the construction exemption for nitrogen deposition during the design and preparation phase, we immediately faced an important challenge. Namely: how do we reduce the nitrogen deposition on the surrounding Natura2000 areas to zero? After the necessary calculations, we arrived at a good solution. Firstly, the project was split into two phases and secondly, we deployed electrical equipment. The latter includes electric asphalt sets and excavators to asphalt spreaders with hydrogen combustion engines and construction huts that run on solar panels. Our equipment contains at least Stage IV engines and the remaining non-electric equipment runs on HVO biofuel."

Special charging hub

The deployment of electric equipment immediately provided the next challenge, and a logistical one at that. Because not all equipment has such large batteries that they can run all day without changing and charging batteries in between. "To enable interim charging, we created a special charging hub at one of our partners, Gebroeders van den Brand en van Oort in Uden. They have a large transformer where we have set up a number of charging stations." The deployment of electric equipment not only requires BAM to make the necessary logistical adjustments, it also requires commitment from the various contractors involved. "The deployment of electric equipment requires a different way of working. You have to plan and think very carefully about which equipment to deploy where and when in order to make the interim battery changes as efficient as possible. The deployment of all equipment is tracked in order to monitor nitrogen deposition. One of our team members does this by making an Aerius calculation with the actual deployment after a phase. This way we know that we are still meeting the legal standard."

Recycled asphalt

In addition to electrical equipment, BAM also applies special recycled asphalt in the asphalt overlays, known as PA stone. This crushed stone has undergone more intensive treatment and is stripped of bitumen and sand, the mastic, in a special centrifuge. The stone that remains is the so-called PA-stone, derived from porous asphalt, the English word for zoab. According to an extensive research and certification process, PA-stone is not inferior to new stones. "The use of recycled asphalt means a lower MKI score. Add to this the fact that we also deploy our special asphalt separator for this purpose, which runs on an electric drive consisting of a 270 kWh fixed battery and two smartly switched electric motors."

Moving forward with each other

Meanwhile, two of the three traffic circles have been replaced by intersections with intelligent traffic lights (iVRIs). By using collected vehicle data and prioritization settings, these iVRIs can regulate traffic flow on the N264 more efficiently. "By allowing traffic lights, smartphones and navigation systems to communicate with each other, we can, for example, allow freight traffic to flow as much as possible." After the summer of 2024, the third traffic circle, the one near Velmolenweg, is planned. There, the two bicycle tunnels will also be fitted with new walls and roofs. Rick: "Looking back on the project so far, we are especially proud of the fact that together with the province of North Brabant we have ensured that the conversion of the N264 could go ahead. Because we have been working together for years and because of experiences gained on previous projects, such as the N395, we can be progressive with each other on current and future projects."