7 September 2009 | press release
"After years of talking, we can finally start an impressive and large-scale project”, said the Minister. The second Coentunnel and the Westrandweg road will both be ready during 2012.
The Coentunnel is the main artery under the North Sea Canal. Over 120,000 vehicles pass through on a daily basis. The tunnel is a bottleneck for traffic and this causes long traffic jams on a daily basis. In order to guarantee fluidity in the future, a second tunnel is added to the existing Coentunnel, which will be laid east of the existing Coentunnel, connecting the A8 to the A10.
Combined, the two tunnels offer eight lanes; three northbound lanes, three southbound lanes and two adjustable lanes. Adjustable lanes are temporary lanes that can be deployed as a northbound or southbound lane depending on traffic load.
Westrandweg ring-road
Adding a second Coentunnel is not sufficient by itself for solving traffic problems. This would only move the traffic jams to the A10 West motorway. This is why the Westrandweg will be constructed between the Coentunnel and the Raasdorp junction.
The construction of Westrandweg is a major impulse for the regional economic development of Amsterdam’s western port area. Two connections will be located in the port area. Most of the Westrandweg will be raised above ground level, ranging from 1.5 metres in the Haarlemmermeer area to 12 metres along Basisweg road. The Westrandweg changes into the Netherlands’ longest fly-over spanning a length of 3.3 km (about 2.1 miles) over the Westpoort business area. This way, the new road can cross other roads and rail lines without any problems.
Realisation
The work involved in the construction of the second Coentunnel will be carried out by the Coentunnel Company, a combination of various construction companies. The Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management outsourced the work on the basis of a so-called DBFM contract (Design, Build, Finance, Maintain) covering a period of 30 years. The contractor is in charge of both the design and realisation of the tunnel and also financing and maintenance.
Based on this contract, Coentunnel Company will finance the work at its own risk. Its income is derived from the fee it will receive when the tunnel and the road will become available, and a one-off payment on delivery. This form of contract will encourage Coentunnel Company to perform as efficiently as possible. In other words: The fewer delays due to, for example, maintenance, the better the traffic flow and the higher the fee. The current Coentunnel is also part of the contract.
The construction of the Westrandweg was awarded to Combinatie Westpoort on the basis of a Design and Build contract. The company Cofely is in charge of the traffic light installations.
The second Coentunnel and the Westrandweg are expected to be opened to the public by 2012. Subsequently, the current Coentunnel will be renovated.
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