NOS News•today, 2:05 PM•Amended today, 2:37 PM
The A7 highway will close to all trucks and buses near Purmerend from Monday morning. Due to the renovation of the bridge over the Noordhollandsch Kanaal, there is currently a weight restriction there: only trucks up to 25 tons are allowed to drive there.
But according to Rijkswaterstaat, this measure is ignored hundreds of times a day, with peaks sometimes exceeding 40 tons.
Rijkswaterstaat believes this is dangerous, also for the staff involved in the work. The bridge is being renovated because the supports are too weak for heavy traffic. That is why a rigorous intervention is now taking place: a ban for all trucks and buses.
“We have focused on strong enforcement this week,” says outgoing Infrastructure Minister Harbers. “A lot of trucks have been taken to the side of the road, but we don’t see it decreasing. Then we have no other option.”
No public transport buses
Camera surveillance will be installed and trucks and buses will be diverted via the A8, A9 and N246. Public transport is not affected by the ban, because no public transport buses drive over the bridge.
“I’m really disappointed about it,” said Harbers. “Here the good suffer from the bad, but otherwise we simply can’t do the work anymore and that bridge needs to be strengthened.”
The sector already saw the downpour. The trade organization Transport and Logistics Netherlands (TLN) had already called on drivers in advance to adhere to the maximum weight. TLN sees the A7 as one of the most important arteries for freight traffic in North Holland.
Work on the bridge is scheduled until September 1. 50,000 holes are drilled in it, which are filled with reinforcing steel.
