Pien Niehe
Europe Press Office,Amsterdam
Directorate General for Public Works and Water Management (Rijkswaterstaat) granted the consortium of BAM PPP and PGGM the assignment for broadening the highway N33, the connection between Assen and Zuidbroek.
Arup worked closely together with the consortium creating the optimal tender design that fits all requirements. The contract term for Design, Build, Finance and Maintain (DPFM) is 20 years and has a building value of €120M. In order to increase traffic safety, flow and accessibility of the region, the N33 will be transformed from a single lane road to a highway with at least two double lanes over a 38km long route. Arup designed several aspects of the tender design, commissioned by BAM Infraconsult: broadening of 15 overpasses, a fly-over, seven underpasses, 10 ecopassages, three culverts and a new movable bridge, next to an existing one. This new bridge will span the Winschoterdiep near Zuidbroek and will offer two extra lanes and a bicycle path. On 1 October Rijkswaterstaat and the consortium ‘Poort van Noord’ signed the DBFM-contract. The final close of the contract was 21 November. The construction will start in 2013 and is expected to be ready in the spring of 2015. Arup will support BAM also during the execution design, recalculating the existing structures, the new movable bridge and all new structures.