Journey’s end for the Coentunnel caissons

16 May 2011 - New contracts - The Netherlands

On 3 May, the last element of the four caissons of the second Coentunnel was floated into and landed in Amsterdam. These elements will form the basic structure of a 750 m-long, 8-lane, submerged road tunnel that will double the capacity of the present tunnel. It will have taken the teams of the con­struction consortium – notably comprising CFE and Dredging International (both VINCI Construction subsidiaries) and VINCI Construction Grands Projets – two years to prefab­ricate them in the dry dock at Barendrecht, near Rotterdam. Reminder: the €500m contract signed, as part of a consortium, by VINCI Concessions, covers the design, construction, financ­ing and maintenance of the equipment for 30 years. It also calls for the widening of a 10 km-long stretch of each ac­cess road (A8 and A10 motor­ways). On handover, in 3 years’ time, this infrastructure will provide a link between the Amsterdam “Ring” (ring road) and the north of the country.