Precast concrete for new A24

The Blankenburg connection connects the A20 near Vlaardingen (north bank) and the A15 near Rozenburg (south bank) through a new freeway, the A24. The new motorway will open in 2024. Haitsma Beton is supplying precast beams for two viaducts at the Rozenburg interchange, precast piles for the approach ramp and precast floor slabs for the Maas Delta tunnel construction docks.

Construction consortium BAAK, a combination of Ballast Nedam, DEME Group and Macquarie, is building the Blankenburg connection on behalf of Rijkswaterstaat. The arrival of the new highway, the A24, will reduce congestion on the A15 and the Benelux corridor and improve accessibility from the port of Rotterdam to the Randstad. The A24 will be fitted into its surroundings and will have a land tunnel on the north bank and a sink tunnel under the Scheur, part of the Nieuwe Waterweg. A splendid project, to which Haitsma Beton will contribute its prefabricated part. 

Large wet knots

The Blankenburg connection connects to the A15 at the Rozenburg interchange. Among other things, four viaducts are being built for the interchange over the Port of Rotterdam Authority's cable and pipeline strip. In this way, the pipelines will always remain accessible for maintenance. For two of the overpasses, Haitsma Beton is assembling a total of ten fields of 137 precast rail girders and chamfered edge sleeves. The girders have a maximum length of 37 meters and maximum weight of 81 tons. 

The girders will be assembled in stages. The first girders were installed in spring 2020 and the last ones will come in spring 2021. Last September, the girders of the third and also longest field were hoisted in (see photo). To keep the structure as slim as possible in construction height, it was decided to temporarily underpin the beams for this field during the pouring of the compression layer. The special features of this structure are the large wet knots of about six meters wide at the supports and the skewed intersections. 

Floor slabs Maas Delta tunnel

Above both ramps of the Maas Delta Tunnel, construction consortium BAAK is constructing a construction dock. This is where the two elements that will be immersed in the Scheur will be built later in the project. For these construction docks, Haitsma Beton will supply some 1,400 precast floor plates from February to October 2021. The final compression layer will be poured on top of the floor slabs.