Pater Sangers bridge

The Pater Sangersbrug, also better known as the Meuse bridge, connects Belgium and the Netherlands. This bridge is more than 70 years old, so it is in dire need of replacement. A new bridge is being built south of the current bridge, commissioned by De Vlaamse Waterweg.

Water passage

Inspections revealed that the badly outdated Pater Sangersbrug had suffered further damage from the cloud burst and high water levels in the summer of 2021. For this reason, the Meuse bridge was classified as Category 4, which means that it “needs urgent attention”.

The new Meus bridge

The design of the new bridge includes widening of the bridge to make it more attractive to active road users, including many cyclists. Since this is an important cycle path for school children, commuting and tourism in the region, the new bridge will be adapted to accommodate such heavy bike traffic.

Since there is not enough space for this new bridge at its current location, it will be moved south of the current bridge. At 185 meters long, which is 33 meters longer than the current bridge, and 21 meters wide, the sustainable design promises better separation and safer traffic flow. The new Pater Sangers bridge provides opportunities for upgrading the planned bicycle highway and improves the separation between active road users and motorized traffic. Cyclists and pedestrians will have separate zones of 5.8 meters and 3.5 meters wide, respectively, making them extra wide and therefore extra safe.

Cross-border cooperation

As this bridge spans the territory of two different countries, our client, De Vlaamse Waterweg, aimed for a design team composed of Dutch and Belgian people. That is why our SBE colleagues in the Netherlands and Belgium were happy to join forces. They eagerly combined their collective technical skills to build bridges, not only literally but also figuratively in this intercultural collaboration.

Part of the construction team

SBE has been appointed as a partner of the partnership between Hye, Victor Buyck and Hoogmartens. Through this approach, De Vlaamse Waterweg and all parties involved are in contact with each other at a very early stage of this project to arrive at a design together. This offers many advantages:

• Our client, De Vlaamse Waterweg, is therefore already involving a pre-eminent expert in the field of execution of construction works and related cost engineering aspects right from the design phase of this project.
• By being involved in the preparation of the construction project, the building contractor can contribute specific experience and expertise to the construction team. Drawing on this experience and expertise, the building contractor can make suggestions regarding cost, quality and efficiency of the building plan.
• In this way, De Vlaamse Waterweg is guaranteed that the construction project will be realized in the most efficient way, with an optimal balance between price and quality.

In the media

• 4/4/24 – Read the article in Architectura here.