In the construction dock on the old Maas at Barendrecht, men are hard at work building the four tunnel elements. The tunnel elements, each 178 metres long, rest peacefully side by side in the construction dock.
At this moment, the final touches are being made to the last two elements and in week 46 the last concrete pour can take place. Meanwhile, the first two tunnel segments have already been sealed off for their transportation. The towing and sinking of the tunnel sections, all four of which consist of seven "slices" 25.5 metres in length and 26 metres wide, will be a spectacular job. The route is over 160 km long and runs from Barendrecht toward Hoek van Holland, then over the North Sea to the North Sea Canal. A dozen tugs, in various configurations, will bring the tunnel sections to Amsterdam one by one.
'Adriatico' dredges the sinking trench
In Amsterdam, on the North Sea Canal, the tunnel builder is already preparing for the sinking of the tunnel elements. The bucket dredger 'Adriatico' is hard at work dredging the sinking trench. The sinking trench is dug to a depth of 25 meters below NAP; it forms the bed into which the tunnel elements will be sunk starting in April of next year. In the coming newsletters, attention will also be focussed on the floating, transportation and sunken emplacement of the tunnel.
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