Last Friday, Silvester heard that his rides would take a lot longer from now on. Because drivers often and grossly exceeded the weight limit during the work on the ‘Corporal of the Marines Jeroen Houweling Bridge’, Rijkswaterstaat decided to immediately to ban all trucks and buses of the weak bridge.
School trips already booked
“I don’t think it’s acceptable to have trucks that have overtaken it with forty tons, but I do think you are shooting a mosquito with a cannon and causing problems for the entire bus industry,” Silvester said. “It was only announced on Friday, but all school trips and tours to the Zaanse Schans, the Keukenhof and Volendam have already been booked and now it is said that you are not allowed to cross it.”
To strengthen the bridge, fifty thousand holes are drilled into the bridge, which are then filled with reinforcing steel. Rijkswaterstaat says: “Drilling these holes temporarily reduces the structural safety of the bridge even further. It is absolutely necessary that the weight limit is no longer exceeded.”
Extra heavy
The measure is extra difficult for Silvester because he has a minibus. Because he can transport more than eight people, he officially drives a coach and is afraid of being flashed. “My bus weighs 3900 kilos without passengers,” Silvester says. He hopes that Rijkswaterstaat will come up with a weight restriction again instead of a complete ban. “If Rijkswaterstaat says that it is too dangerous to cross the bridge with heavy vehicles, then indicate a maximum tonnage.”
Because the police and Rijkswaterstaat do not want to weigh every truck and bus, flashes are used. “Camera surveillance ensures one hundred percent control. This is the only way to guarantee the safety of the bridge and the workers,” Rijkswaterstaat writes.
