My Spring 2025 trip to the Netherlands included some time in Utrecht, one of my favourite cities, and another chance to have a look at an interesting piece of design.
My first post from this trip where I rode the F325 Fast Cycle Route between Arnhem and Nijmegen can be read HERE.
In 2023, I rode over the Dafne Schippersbrug, named after Dutch athlete, Dafne Schippers, but there wasn't much time to have a proper look as I was on a ride around Utrecht with Mark Wagenbuur (Bicycle Dutch) and my youngest daughter. I was determined to have a closer look and that was a task for this trip.
The bridge itself (above) opened in 2017 and was built to provide a walking, wheeling and cycling link to an expanding neighbourhood to the west of the Amsterdam-Rijnkanaal (Amsterdam Rhine-canal), and where the A2 motorway is covered over and forms the Willem-Alexander Park. The bridge also took advantage of the need to replace the local primary school (Montessorischool Oog in Al) which allowed some really clever design work to take place.
The land to the west of the canal is being redeveloped and has changed even in the 18-month gap between my visits. I arrived on the western canal path, heading north and the route to access the bridge is via local residential streets. I had to go a little way north before looping back to cross, but that was because of works. The final layout will use a couple of very quiet streets closer to the bridge; and of course, the main access to the bridge comes from the west anyway and where the ground is higher than the canal path.
The main span is a suspension bridge with a pair of outward raking pylons at each end from which the main cables are suspended and with vertical hanger cables holding the deck. The photograph above is looking east towards the city centre with a wide two-way cycle track and pedestrian path. These are separated by a white line which would be lighter weight than adding a raised footway and being at one level, it is easier to drain and treat for winter ice forming- something which tends to happen in cold, damp and windy places, such as over a canal!
While the western access ramp from the canal uses local streets, the eastern side is a little different as it needed to tie into the existing street levels. This is where the replacement of the primary school comes into play because the roof of the school forms part of the access ramp. The photograph above is the school viewed from ground level to the east and you can see the edge rail and people cycling on the roof.
It is worth looking at this with the old street layout and school HERE. Quite a conventional street layout, complete with bollards to keep drivers off the footway. Yes, Dutch drivers can be as bad as those in the UK!
The photograph above is from the school roof looking back towards a long curving ramp which takes people up to the bridge which sits 9 metres over the canal, showing that the flat Netherlands needs a few artificial hills to cross big pieces of infrastructure!
The photograph above gives a slightly different view of the ramp from a little street which was created as part of the development adding a few more homes to the neighbourhood.
The ramp eventually meets street level and cycle traffic is integrated with general traffic on 30km/h low traffic streets with red surfacing providing clear wayfinding for its status as a main cycle route.
The cycle route connects to cycle tracks on Lessinglaan which is a busier road, but cycle traffic can also cross to access more low traffic streets and a cycle street which runs towards the city centre. The exit from the street leading from the bridge is cycles only and so drivers have to take a more convoluted way out of the area.
The bridge is a nice piece of engineering, but the real skill here is how access to it has been designed in with development on both sides of the canal and of course, the integration with the new school is inspired. As well as this, a more detailed poke around the street layouts on both sides shows that the crossing is all set up to create a direct link to the city with drivers taking other routes which really is classic unravelling of the cycling and motoring networks.
I shall leave you with a video of my cycle around this wonderful piece of urban, landscape and engineering design, but you can see my 2023 crossing and compare the progress of the development on the west.
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