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The widening of the A2 motorway between the Het Vonderen and Kerensheide interchanges to 2×3 lanes plus hard shoulder was awarded to Boskalis by the Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management in August 2023. In the call for tenders with a strong EMVI component, the vision on traffic disruption and attention to the livability of the surroundings during both the construction and usage phases proved decisive. In other words, smart phasing and maximum performance. This winning strategy was expressed on a large scale for the first time in 2025 during the WeekendBreek: a historic closing weekend of the A2 in Limburg, in which months of preparation came together in 56 hours of intensive work.
The core of our winning approach lay in smart phasing, based on a consistent weekend approach, begins Boskalis tender and project manager Mark van den Hurk. “Instead of long-term traffic measures, such as narrowed lanes and barriers, we chose to carry out most of the work out of traffic. Traffic is then converted to the fully newly realized lanes on two occasions. This results in considerably less inconvenience to road users and the environment. Traffic disruption and livability in particular therefore had a great deal of weight in the assessment during the tender. We achieved the maximum score on both parts: a 10. This made us very competitive compared to other tenderers.”
In the initial tender, Boskalis assumed five full closure weekends of the A2, during which a large number of works would take place simultaneously over a length of 18 kilometers. “The subsequent scope expansion resulted in it eventually becoming seven,” says Van den Hurk. “Within those weekends, as much work as possible is combined, so that we minimize disruption to road users and the environment outside of those weekends.” Another point on which Boskalis scored high is the application of a Diverging Diamond Interchange (DDI) on the secondary road network (N297) at the Born junction. “By temporarily directing traffic over one viaduct while the other is being demolished and rebuilt, traffic flow remains optimal and lengthy closures are avoided. This innovative solution has only been used a few times before in the Netherlands (including by Boskalis) and proved to be a distinguishing element in our bid.”
The first major closure of the A2 took place the weekend of Nov. 14 through Nov. 17, 2025. “Making this Weekend Break possible required almost the entire year of preparation,” says project director Michel Bekooy. “In 2025, intensive work went into making the route ready for construction: dismantling the rush-hour lane, moving cables and pipes, detecting explosives, archaeological research and removing vegetation. Badger setts were also relocated, which required extensive permit processes.”
The Weekend Break was a historic moment for Limburg. “The A2, the province's only north-south highway, was completely closed for 56 hours over 18 kilometers. Long-distance traffic was diverted via Germany and Belgium, regional traffic via provincial roads. In cooperation with Rijkswaterstaat, a large-scale communication campaign was set up to encourage working from home and public transport,” discipline leader GWW Alex Keur looks back. No fewer than 25 subprojects were carried out on the route during the Weekend Break. “In this, the emergency route was a project in itself and guaranteed that emergency services could pass through at all times. That route proved its worth: response times were met and blood transports could also continue. After the historic weekend we received many compliments from the emergency services and the surrounding area about the mobility management. The trick for us now is to repeat that over the next six weekend closures.”
This year, Boskalis“ work includes the construction of fauna passages for the banded bats, of which a total of seven will be completed. ”Three of them started in the winter of 2025/2026 and must be completed before April 15, due to the awakening of bats from their winter hibernation,“ Bekooy emphasizes. During the following winter, the remaining four passages will be built. ”In addition, this year we will start the reconstruction of the Echt, Born and Urmond junctions. A part of the new viaducts will be built alongside traffic, after which traffic will be converted in the next Weekend Break in October of this year, so that afterwards the rest of the new viaducts can also be realized. Thus, the A2 will remain in use as usual during most of the work and road users will hardly notice any of the interventions."
Boskalis is building a total of fifteen new engineering structures and underpasses to make the widening of the A2 possible. The phased and smart approach means that traffic will be driving over large sections of the renovated route well before official completion in 2029.
