In the 1960s, there was already talk of an additional river crossing between Rotterdam North and South. The Beneluxtunnel had just opened in 1967 (2x2 lanes) and the Van Brienenoordbrug in 1965 (2x3 lanes). In the city, the Maastunnel had opened inWW2 (2x2 lanes) and the "old" Koninginnebrug from 1929 (2x2 lanes) had been extended with the Willemsbrug in 1981. Meanwhile, the Erasmus Bridge was opened in 1996, the Van Brienenoord Bridge was doubled (1990) and the Benelux Tunnel was doubled with 5 lanes in 2002. Enough lanes to take the barrier of the Nieuwe Maas river. But increasing congestion during peak hours made it imperative to make the motorway network around Rotterdam more robust. For this purpose, the Blankenburg connection/A24 was realised. The A24 is the connection between the A20 (west of Vlaardingen) and the A15 (east of Rozenburg). Its length is 4.2 km and consists of a 2x3-lane motorway, Vlaardingen interchange, the 510-metre Holland Tunnel, the 900-metre Maas Delta Tunnel and Rozenburg interchange. The A24 is accessible to all motor vehicles and the tunnel category is C.

On 18 September 2018, construction started by the BAAK construction consortium, consisting of BallastNedam, DEME Group of Zwijndrecht (B) and Macquarie Group (GB).

The A24 will be opened on 7 December 2024.

In the presentation, speaker Kees Abrahamse will take you through the design philosophy, the chosen construction method, the major challenges during realisation and the final result.

Short biography project spokesperson Kees Abrahamse
After studying civil engineering at HTS-Vlissingen, I did development work in Suriname from 1977 as a teacher of civil engineering and construction at the NATIN-mbo. After returning to the Netherlands, I started working as head of the Data Collection Department of the Traffic Engineering Department in 1981. From 1983-1985, I completed the incompany training for the position of "service district head". In 1986, I was appointed head of the Drachten service district, later Friesland-Noord. In 1993, the appointment followed as head of the Dordrecht service district, later Zuid-Hollandse Waarden, then Rijnmond road district. In 2008, I was seconded to De Verkeersonderneming as Traffic Management Programme Manager for more than three years. From 2011, I was environment manager at the Schiphol-Amsterdam-Almere programme for the A9 Badhoevedorp-Holendrecht project, currently under implementation by VeenIX. From 2020, I am retired and in 2022 started as project information officer for the Blankenburg connection.

Drinks will start at 18:00 and the meal will follow punctually at 19:00, after which the lecture can start at 20:00. End around 22:00.

Further information or registration can be obtained via: kringrotterdam@kivi.nl

Please note that a payment link to pay the participation fee will be sent in advance.