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Successfully integrating urban areas with green active travel modes – including safe spaces for cycling and pedestrians – is integral to create thriving cities to live in. This is particularly true in Almere, a burgeoning new city created in the 1970s, after the Netherlands completed the world’s largest land reclamation project.
With an appetite for innovation, Almere offers a mix of residential and business developments, and green public spaces. To support connectivity in this urban test lab, the province of Flevoland asked Arup, wUrck architecture and Reimert Bouw en infrastructuur to design a cycling and pedestrian bridge.
Crossing the Waterlandseweg and the Hoge Vaart, Almere’s eye-catching Circle Bridge is a 240 metre-long active travel bridge offering safe passage for pedestrians and cyclists over the busy road and canal, while offering splendid views of the nearby forest and the Green Cathedral living land art project.
Project Summary
240 metre-long
8spans
1Spiral staircase
With a unique undulating outline, Circle Bridge gently echoes the surrounding Polder landscape, acting as a connecting axis with the Stichtsekant bus stop while extending the existing cycling network.
Made with a mix of low-maintenance and durable materials, the cycling and pedestrian bridge has been designed to be accessible by a range of users featuring a circular ramp, as well as a spiral staircase and a glass lift shaft by the bus stop.
Arup worked with wUrck and Reimert Bouw en infrastructuur to deliver the design, as the lead structural engineer for the steel superstructure and concrete substructure and foundation of the bridge, while also providing geotechnical and lighting consultancy.
Sustainable pedestrian bridge design
Almere’s new active travel bridge is designed with circular economy principles in mind, aiming for timeless architecture that people will enjoy, low maintenance requirements and durability of at least 100 years.
Designed to meld with the landscape, the Circle Bridge is constructed out of weathering steel, with reclaimed timber used for the handrails. This eco-friendly steel can be easily recycled at the end of the bridge’s lifespan without any further processing. The bridge sections are all bolted together to the substructure to ease disassembly and future reuse. This type of steel is also highly resistant to corrosion and requires only minimal maintenance.
“Increasing active travel modes of transport for local communities will provide them with a healthy and low carbon way of traveling. The beautiful design of the Circle Bridge accommodates the needs of residents and visitors, where its slender steel structure will ensure the bridge will serve the community for many years to come. ”
Edwin Thie Design Manager
Digital collaboration shapes unique bridge outline
As well as acting as an urban connector and joining the cycling network to public transport; the concept for the bridge design was to create a playful and slender structure providing sufficient space for extra functionalities – including enjoying the views. The silhouette of the bridge offers a fluid three-dimensional movement, where the bridge’s meandering shape was transformed into a rational structural design through the use of 3D models in a collaborative digital environment.
We have optimised the geometry of the architecture design by creating a 3D parametric model of the bridge’s shape that was also used to inform the strength analysis model, assessing the bridge safety. Working off of the same 3D model, the steel manufacturer, Van der Zalm further developed their fabrication workflow. The 3D model also included the concrete reinforcement layout to ease the collaboration with the reinforcement supplier and the bridge assembly on site.
©Thea van der Heuvel
The strong collaboration between Arup as the lead structural engineer, architects wUrck, steel manufacturer Van der Zalm, and the contractor Reimert Bouw en infrastructuur led to the creation of an iconic active travel bridge design that will strengthen urban connectivity for many years to come.
The bridge deck, made up of six separate segments, required incredible accuracy to be assembled onsite. The pin-hole connections between the segments and the hinged columns had to be matched down to the last millimetre to form one seamless structure.
“The bridge is an organic sculpture of weathering steel that creates a safe mobility connecting link, and provides an enjoyable space to contemplate the landscape and the iconic land art of the ‘Groene Kathedraal’. The creative collaboration between wUrck and Arup is an ambitious partnership that turns dream concepts into feasible structures. ” Oriol Casas Cancer Partner Architect, wUrck
Bridge vibrations – measures to ensure user comfort
Superstructure vibrations in light steel bridges can often cause discomfort to users as they walk or sit on the bridge, and was a focus area for the design of Almere’s Circle Bridge, as it offers a seating area with views over the canal.
Our team of experts assessed the human induced vibrations during the bridge design phase and had the actual bridge behaviour and deck accelerations analysed upon completion. The analysis led to the installation of a damping system under the bridge deck – one damper above the road and one over the water – to improve the comfort for people on the bridge, especially those sitting at the viewing area.
Almere’s newest Circle Bridge unlocks new walking and cycling paths for residents and visitors while linking the city to its unique natural surroundings.
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