WATCH: Completing the missing link in Antwerp’s ring road project

At the moment the ring is more of a semi-circle, with the top section bisected by the River Scheldt, where the port is, making accessibility difficult. 

The two tunnel projects are different in engineering, with the canal tunnels consisting of four tubes stacked on top of each other in pairs. The lower tubes connect to the Antwerp Ring Road towards the Netherlands, the upper tubes in the direction of Brussels.

They will be built on site in eight parts before being sunk along the southern bank of the Albert Canal, with cables and pipelines previously there having been disconnected and attached to a steel structure underneath the Straatsburg bridge.

Steel sheet piles are already being installed at the bottom of the Albert Canal in preparation for a cofferdam along its entire length.

Diaphragm concrete walls, built from concrete produced at the new plant at Straatsburg Dock, will then be placed in this cofferdam, with soil to one side then excavated to a depth of about 20 metres.

The tunnels are to be stacked so that the wharf area is narrow enough to keep the connection with the Albert Canal open to shipping during the phase. 

New concrete plant

The concrete plant will also supply the material for the new bypass, also part of the ring road.

Straatsburg Dock’s western quay had to be extended to build the plant, which began about a year ago and has just begun producing concrete.

The quay was extended by 29 metres by placing sheet piles in the water and filling the area between them and the former quay with soil. 

The concrete plant covers 460m² and has abundant storage bunkers for sand and gravel unloading, and large silos for cement storage. 

The plant will ultimately supply concrete for the entire Oosterweel wharf, say the project’s leaders, as well as the new bypass and a sunken part of the new ring road.

The Oosterweel Link project is a major ring road project in Antwerp that aims to improve traffic flow around the city and port, and it includes another sub-water tunnel under the River Scheldt. This is expected to be opened in 2027.

Principal contractor for the works is Lantis, with usual suspects BAM, DEME, Besix and Jan De Nul also heavily involved.