Two weeks ago a start was made with replacing an old agricultural bridge over the Ruiner Aa, near Kraloo, just on the border of the National Park. The bridge was still made of wood. The plan is to place a culvert here with pavement over it.

Last week the bridge was completely demolished. A temporary walking and cycling bridge has been built to replace it.

The replacement of the bridge is a result of the bridge management plan. Part of this management plan is a multi-year planning of the municipality De Wolden which includes the (major) maintenance and replacement of several bridges.

Siphon installation

At the beginning of the project Van Heck was on site to implement a temporary diversion of the Ruiner Aa by installing a siphon system of Ø 1000 mm with a flow rate of 4.000 m3 per hour. This way the renovation project could to be carried out under dry circumstances and the water could continue to flow in the brook.

A special detail is that this location, in the middle of the forest, lies in a difficult accessible place. Using a small sand road the truck with the Van Heck equipment had to drive in backwards to reach the location.

Brand new passage

The culvert is expected to be placed at the beginning of the construction workers’ holiday and the traffic can use a brand new crossing of the Ruiner Aa.