In association with
Omrop Friesland
NOS News•today, 1:06 PM
The work on the Princess Margriet Tunnel the A7 between Joure and Sneek will take a year longer than expected. The work will not be completed until the end of 2025 at the earliest, Rijkswaterstaat reports.
Rijkswaterstaat calls it a “setback for road users and the environment”, but says that the work is much more complex. A construction method is used that does not require lowering the groundwater level. This takes longer, but is less likely to cause damage to surrounding buildings.
“We can increase speed, but then we have to completely close the tunnel to traffic,” spokesperson Anne van der Meer told Omrop Fryslân. “That would cause a lot of inconvenience in the surrounding villages.”
Since February, one lane has been open in each direction during work and a maximum speed of 50 kilometers per hour has been allowed.
Design error
The tunnel was suddenly closed in December 2022 because part of the road surface rose. This turned out to have been pushed up by groundwater. That was due to a design error.
Rijkswaterstaat started constructing the new foundation in mid-June 2023.
