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Delftlanden

Setting

Client

cross section, scale 1:100

This cyclist and pedestrian bridge crosses the Emmen by-pass

Emmen City Council

and connects the Delftlanden housing development with the

Designers

existing town.

Gerhard Nijenhuis

Design

Rogier van Nassau

Completed

• The bridge design is location-based: the curve creates the

2005

most logical route between the housing development and

Size

the city centre. The central reservation offered the best loca-

l=84 m; b= 4 m

tion for a bridge support. Because the bridge was required to

Building costs

be an icon in the surrounding landscape, designing a cable-

€ 725,600

stayed bridge was the obvious choice.

Price per m²

• Specially designed supports carry the bridge on both sides

€ 2,160

Load-bearing capacity

of the by-pass, ensuring that motorists are not deprived of

5 kN/m²

a view of the countryside. The bridge does not end until the

end of the curve, where the elevated cyclist and pedestrian

path continues onto the embankment.

Structure

• The main structure comprises a steel tower, 14 steel cables

and an 80-metre-long tubular steel beam with cross beams

attached to one side. The tower leans slightly rearwards,

away from the bridge deck, in order to keep it balanced. In

this way, the bridge’s central weight is located directly above

the tower foot.

• The Delftlanden bridge is a multispan bridge; the cable sus-

pended bridge is the main span, and smaller girder bridge

sections on steel supports cross the other, smaller spans. Like

the tower, these specially designed supports lean slightly

backwards.

102

Delftlanden, Emmen

103

Detailing

• Several decimetres separate the bridge deck from its

neighbouring tubular steel beam, which means the beam is

clearly visible from the bridge itself, and from underneath the

bridge, where a strip of light is visible.

• Specially designed ball joints connect the steel cables to the

tubular beam, which allows for small movements of the

bridge deck and cables.

• The handrails are made of aluminium extrusion profiles,

developed especially for this project. Aluminium was chosen

as the construction material, because it allowed for the hand-

rail to be oval-shaped and for the simultaneous integration

of the handrail and baluster fitting.

plan

elevation

104

the cables carry the tubular beam

cable connection cross section

ball joint

Delftlanden, Emmen

105