Construction of new tunnel under A2 starts: ‘This is a tour de force’. A stunning feat. That’s how the municipality and Strukton describe the precise positioning of an enormous tunnel box under the A2 motorway in the northwest of Eindhoven, near the Batadorp interchange. After more than a year’s preparation, the job will be completed this week.
The components of the tunnel box weigh between 1300 and 1900 tonnes. With special machines, controlled by a joystick, the tunnel will be placed under the A2 at the Batadorp junction with millimetre precision. The tunnel should be in place in a few weeks’ time. In total, some 200 people from the Eindhoven municipality, Strukton and the Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management are working on the job.
Improved flow
The tunnel should make it easier for freight to leave the large GDC industrial estate in Acht. This business park is growing rapidly. The connection between GDC and the Brainport Industries Campus and Eindhoven Airport must also be improved. The tunnel should also reduce the amount of traffic at the Batadorp junction and the Antony Fokkerweg.
Challenges
Not only the placement of the tunnel is a considerable challenge. The same applies to the proper management of all the traffic. “One and a half million vehicles travel here every week on the A2 and N2. Now we’ve gone back from fifteen to eight lanes. It’s a challenge to coordinate this properly within the regulations and at the same time to maintain a safe situation for the traffic with a good flow,” says project leader Hendrik-Jan Vennix.
Patience
It will be another year before traffic can use the new subway. First the tunnel has to be finished and the roads around it constructed. The work may cause heavy traffic jams in the near future.
Source: Studio040.nl
Translated by: Anitha Sevugan
