Creative in drilling, sawing and demolition

On behalf of Rijkswaterstaat, VeenIX is carrying out the widening of the A9 Badhoevedorp- Holendrecht motorway. "Virtually all our disciplines come together on this project," says André Rikkers, business manager at Van der Jagt Group. "When things get difficult or special, clients always know where to find us."

Van der Jagt Group is a versatile specialist in all kinds of drilling, sawing and demolition work. Rikkers: "With our various entities, we are involved in the most diverse infrastructure projects. Here on the A9, we were initially asked to roughen up the concrete surface of the pillars under the Schiphol Bridge and to drill and glue in the cutting reinforcement so that the structure could be widened. That sounds simple, but in practice is a gigantic job when you consider that 600 m² of concrete surface goes and 12,000 (!) cuttings."

On land and water

To this day, Van der Jagt Group is working on this monster job. "The Schiphol Bridge rests on two abutments and seven piers, all of which are being 'tackled,'" he says. "Three piers are on land and four are in the water. To handle the piers in the water, we have our own boat at our disposal. With that we sail to the pontoon where our crane is set up that does the demolition and drilling work. This is because we also sometimes have to cut into the concrete to make the existing reinforcement visible," Rikkers explains. "In the fairway, moreover, we have to deal with regular shipping. To that end, we receive a signal from the bridge operator an hour in advance that a boat is approaching and that we therefore need to make way. That makes the project all quite dynamic, but also complex." 

Versatile service provider

For Van der Jagt Group, the project is not limited to that one job. "Meanwhile, we have also been commissioned to remove the embankment sides of the Schiphol Bridge," continues Rikkers. "This involves the embankment on which the guardrail is positioned. Because the structure is being widened on both sides, these chamfer edges have to be cut off. All in all, quite a drastic operation, because it all happens at night with temporary road closures. In the process, we first drill anchors, cut the embankment into pieces and then hoist them away in blocks and remove them. And all this over a length of about 550 meters. Meanwhile, we are also busy cutting asphalt, drilling test cores and have been asked to help think about the existing bearing of the bridge that needs to be modified. Everything comes together on this project. It shows the versatility of us as Van der Jagt Group."