Oosterweel project near Antwerp is a model of collaboration

"If anything is typical of the cooperation between the Netherlands and Belgium within project Oosterweel, it is the pride with which work is done." Speaking is Jaap Geuze, Project Manager Oosterweel at Mobilis. "The colleagues working on one of Belgium's largest infrastructure projects certainly don't have a '7 to 4 mentality' and everyone has the right spirit."

Project Oosterweel is divided into 5 lots (components). Lot 1 involves a smoother and safer highway infrastructure in Antwerp Left Bank and Zwijndrecht, the construction of a Park and Ride building, preparatory works for connection to the new Scheldt Tunnel and the implementation of a livability project, including the construction of noise barriers and bicycle paths. Lantis awarded the project to Rinkoniên, a THV (Temporary Trade Association) between Mobilis, Stadsbader, CIT Blaton, Artes Roegiers and Artes Depret. TBI company Mobilis, as part of the construction consortium THV Civiel, is working with Artes Roegiers, Artes Depret and CIT Blaton on lot 1. Lot 2, outside the scope of Rinkoniên, revolves around the Scheldt Tunnel itself, and lot 3, the Oosterweel interchange and the renovation of the Royers Lock, is still in the bidding phase.

More safety and less inconvenience

Geuze describes Project Oosterweel as rewarding work. "We contribute to a piece of safety and less disruption to the surrounding area. A good example is that there are places where you have to merge onto the highway from the left. Life-threatening and this is regularly demonstrated in practice. By adding extra lanes and directing traffic there, it is possible to merge from the right. The scope includes 10 km of noise barriers and noise berms, because there is also a focus on livability for the environment."

Within the project, Mobilis is responsible for the design and realization. "That combination is not so well known in Belgium. We complete the design and do the delivery and are the system engineers within the project. With a team of 62 people, consisting of work planners, project managers, executives, safety and quality staff, we get the job done. Our Dutch working method differs from the working method to which people in Belgium are accustomed. We were awarded the contract on the basis of carrying out tests when it comes to quality and demonstrability. In Belgium, people are used to carrying out a lot of physical checks, in a traditional way, with more supervisors," Geuze said.

Complex work

Geuze is on the project every day, as are his colleagues. "Well coronaproof of course. This is not a job you can do from home, behind your laptop. We are dealing with great complexity in the work, especially when it comes to traffic conversions. In the EMVI tender, we scored a lot of points with Rinkoniên with our plan to build temporary bridges and roads to keep the traffic flow going. It works well in practice, traffic can make full use of all lanes. We are currently working on the fly-overs. The new fly-overs will be closer together. There too the planning is good: in one weekend the old fly-overs were demolished and an overpass was made so that the construction of the new fly-overs could be started. Within this project there will be a total of 6 fly-overs, some of which will overlap each other."

The project started in May 2018, with implementation in September 2019. "Despite the corona dip we had for a while, we are at full war strength now. The backlog has largely been cleared. The biggest works will take place in 2020 and 2021, lot 1 (including livability measures) should be ready in 2025," Geuze concludes.