extension of lock chamber Heel

When:

11 April 2013

15:00 Hour - 17:00 Hour

Event organizer:Region North and Central Limburg

Description

The Meuse Works collectively constitute a far-reaching programme. Over a total length of 222 kilometres, Rijkswaterstaat is working on a safer, more navigable and more natural Meuse. The work consists of 52 projects. Some of them have already been completed, others are still in preparation.

The Meuse Works project consists of three sub-projects: Meuse Route, Sand Meuse and Border Meuse. Within the Zandmaas subproject, we visited the Ooijen - Wanssum project last year and will visit the Stadsweide project later this year. In this excursion, we will get to know more about the Meuse Route sub-project.

The Meuse Route is the route that cargo ships navigate, partly on the Meuse and partly on the Juliana Canal and Lateral Canal. The Meuse is one of the most important shipping links within Europe. The aim of the Meuse route sub-project is to adapt the waterway and make it suitable for larger barges. A more modern Meuse route is beneficial for the environment: with increased transport by ship, the more polluting road transport grows less.

The shipping route on the Meuse will be improved and made suitable for so-called two-barge pushing ships. These are ships with a length of 190 metres, a width of 11.4 metres and a draught of 3.5 metres. To accommodate these larger vessels, Rijkswaterstaat has to deepen the river bed, widen bends, raise bridges, widen the Juliana Canal and construct and extend locks, among other things.

One of these locks to be extended is lock Heel, the southern access of the Maas to the Lateral Canal. Here, the eastern lock chamber will be extended to 225 metres.

Entrance is possible from 14:30 in the reception centre on Sluisweg 3 in Heel, where you can already enjoy a cup of coffee and a piece of flan.

At 15:00, we will start the excursion with a presentation by the contract manager of Rijkswaterstaat and the contractor's foreman. They will first explain the Maasroute project in general and then zoom in on the technical and logistical challenges involved in extending the lock chamber.

After the indoor explanation, we will descend into the dry lock chamber around 4pm to take a closer look at this project from a unique vantage point. THINK TO PASS PASSING SHOEISEL TO LOOK OVER THE MODULAR BODY OF THE KOLK!

Around 5pm, we will conclude the afternoon.