FCC Construcción continues to make progress on the project to widen the A9 highway in the Netherlands, reaching the construction milestone of installing the metal deck of the Schiphol Bridge drawbridge. 

For its execution it has been necessary to demolish and build a new drawbridge, which is key as it has allowed the passage of sailing ships along the Ijssel river. The deck of the north causeway, a 436-ton metal piece that forms the movable part of the deck that will be lifted to allow the passage of ships, was built ad hoc in a workshop in Rotterdam. 

This metal part is a construction milestone in itself, as it is the widest part, seven lanes, installed on a drawbridge in the Netherlands. The Netherlands is a country with great experience and tradition in this type of bridge, due to the numerous interferences between waterways (sea, rivers, canals,...) and roads and railroads. 

The complete and complex operation has been developed. First, the 436-tonne piece was loaded onto the pontoon in the metal workshop in Rotterdam by means of a special floating crane. Then it was transported by tugs in a river channel to its final location on the A-9 freeway in Amsterdam. Finally, the final positioning and installation maneuver was carried out with the help of four 650-ton cranes.  

FCC Construcción demonstrates, in one of the largest construction projects underway in Europe, that it has a technical and organizational team capable of successfully tackling the greatest construction challenges, in any country and under the most difficult conditions, once again demonstrating our great technical and management capacity and our great adaptability to different conditions.

Expansion of the A9 Badhoevedorp-Holendrecht freeway (The Netherlands)
The project consists of the widening of an 11.4 km section of the A9 freeway between Badhoevedorp and Holendrecht. The work consists of widening the platform from three to four lanes in each direction, with the corresponding expansion of existing structures (11), new junctions with other roads, as well as bridges and tunnels. In this sense, it is worth mentioning a section where it is planned to depress the grade (currently in embankment), of 1.7 km, and turn it into a trench section, with three covered subsections. The project has been executed while maintaining traffic on the existing highway and minimizing the impact on the urban environment.
 
In addition, the scope of the concession includes maintenance for 2 years after completion of the construction works.
The new covered areas will serve to regenerate the more urban area, generating new spaces for green areas, roads, etc. The "Tree Bridge", a very unique architectural bridge located over the closed area of the Keizer Karelweg, is one of the most important elements of the project.