Merwedebrücke near Gorinchem

Merwedebrug near Gorinchem
Official name	Merwedebrug near Gorinchem
use	Road traffic , bicycle traffic , foot traffic
Convicted	Rijksweg 27
Crossing of	Boven-Merwede
place	Gorinchem , Werkendam municipality
Entertained by	Rijkswaterstaat
construction	double arch bridge , bascule bridge
overall length	792.54 m
width	25.2 m
Longest span	2 × 170 m
Headroom	13.50 m (fixed bridge)
vehicles per day	90,000 (as of 2009)
start of building	1959
opening	March 15, 1961
	location
Above sea level	0 m NAP

51.827264 4.94241 0Coordinates: 51 ° 49 ′ 38 " N , 4 ° 56 ′ 33" E

The Merwedebrücke near Gorinchem ( Dutch Merwedebrug bij Gorinchem ) crosses the Boven-Merwede ("Obere Merwede"), as the lower reaches of the Waal in this section of the Rhine-Maas Delta , between the Dutch town of Gorinchem and the municipality of Werkendam . Rijksweg A27 , one of the most important north-south connections in the western Netherlands, runs on the double tied arch bridge with bascule bridge , which was built between 1959 and 1961 . The 792.54-meter-long structure is located at 956.90 kilometers of the Rhine and 98.20 kilometers of the Dutch waterway 101 (Rhine – Waal – Boven-Merwede – Beneden-Merwede – Noord ).

The main span consists of two steel arches, each with two main beams and an orthotropic deck as a tie . The span of each arch bridge is 170 meters. On the north side there is a bascule bridge with a total length of 36.5 meters. The movable wooden deck rests on two steel beams and is 32 meters long. The bridge is driven by two racks in a factory basement under the roadway. The counterweights are also located there.

The only bridge over the Boven-Merwede was opened on March 15, 1961 by Queen Juliana . Due to the increasing traffic, the bridge has been heavily overloaded for several years. The construction is to be replaced by a new building by 2020. The Merwede river bed is also to be widened.