Inspections of crossings reveal various deficiencies

THE HAGUE – Dutch officials have conducted a thorough inspection of their country’s numerous bridges. They discovered metal fatique in 25 bridges, prompting them to fast track remedial action for 12. None required immediate intervention. Earlier this year, officials banned all truck traffic from the Holland bridge near Almere when it displayed serious weaknesses. Since then, officials critically evaluated the condition of 2,020 concrete bridges and viaducts and 274 steel bridges. The Transportation and Water Management ministry still wants to review the data on 1,180 such structures to determine if these can reach their expected lifespan. The Dutch highway system has a significant number of crossings forty years and older which were built based on then valid product knowledge and traffic volume projections. Officials note that those projections were far too conservative and that today’s vehicles, both cars and trucks, are much heavier than had been foreseen.