The Spanish Ambassador to the Netherlands, Consuelo Femenía, has visited the A9 dual carriageway widening project being executed by the Spanish company FCC. 

During the visit, accompanied by project managers and the client Rijkswaterstaat, the importance of the project and its magnitude were explained. The delegation toured the project's points of activity, demonstrating FCC's technical capacity and experience in the development of a project as complex as this one. 

In the words of the ambassador, "the scope and complexity of this project, which will greatly improve connectivity and provide green spaces in a highly populated area, is impressive".

FCC Construcción recently reached a key construction milestone with the installation of the metal deck of the Schiphol Bridge drawbridge. 

It was necessary to demolish and build a new drawbridge, which is key because it has allowed sailing boats to pass along the Ijssel river. The deck of the north causeway, a 436-tonne piece of metal 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, etc.) and roads and railways. 

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. It was then transported by inland waterway using tugboats to its final location on the A-9 motorway in Amsterdam. Finally, the final positioning and installation manoeuvre was carried out with the help of four 650-tonne cranes. 

In one of the biggest construction projects under way in Europe, FCC Construcción is demonstrating that it has a technical and organisational team capable of successfully tackling the biggest construction challenges, in any country and under the most difficult conditions, proving once again our great technical and management capacity and our great adaptability to different conditions.

Widening of the A9 Badhoevedorp-Holendrecht motorway (Netherlands)
The project consists of upgrading an 11.4 km section of the A9 motorway 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 respect, there is a section of 1.7 km where it is planned to lower the gradient (currently an embankment) and turn it into a trench section, with three covered subsections. The project has been executed while maintaining traffic on the existing motorway and minimising 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 significant elements of the project.