Maastricht’s lowered urban Motorway

Quelle/credit: HeidelbergCement

Precise work for the Maastricht A2 Tunnel major project: when building the diaphragm and sealing walls sometimes less than 2 m space remained between the cable of the excavator and passing cars

Quelle/credit: HeidelbergCement

Quelle/credit: Projectbureau A2 Maastricht

The urban part-section of the Dutch A2 motorway through Maastricht is due to run underground from late 2016 between the hubs Geusselt (above) and Europaplein (below) over a distance of roughly 2.3 km

Quelle/credit: Projectbureau A2 Maastricht

Quelle/credit: HeidelbergCement

The walls of the construction trench, up to 30 m deep and with few exceptions 0.6 m wide, were produced with sheet piling walls set in diaphragm walls. The cross-ties and steel pipes installed in between serve to secure the sheet piling slabs

Quelle/credit: HeidelbergCement

Quelle/credit (2): Projectbureau A2 Maastricht

The cross-ties and steel pipes installed in between serve to secure the sheet piling slabs

Quelle/credit (2): Projectbureau A2 Maastricht

Quelle/credit: Projectbureau A2 Maastricht

The lanes of the lower level of the double-deck A2 tunnel are intended for through traffic whilst the upper level lanes are reserved for local and regional traffic

Quelle/credit: Projectbureau A2 Maastricht

Europaplein: set-up of the tunnel wall reinforcement

Quelle/credit: Projectbureau A2 Maastricht

Quelle/credit: HeidelbergCement

The new tunnel is largely produced by cut-and-cover in on average 24 m long sections

Quelle/credit: HeidelbergCement

Quelle/credit (2): Projectbureau A2 Maastricht

The south tunnel accesses at the Europaplein in December 2013

Quelle/credit (2): Projectbureau A2 Maastricht

Portalbaustelle Europaplein im Juli 2014

By 2016 Maastricht intends relocating no less than 80 % of the existing volume of traffic on the A2 urban motorway underground. The “Groene Loper” (Green Carpet) project represents one of the biggest construction schemes ever undertaken by the city in the south-east of the Netherlands. At present a double-deck tunnel with two bores is being produced – the first of its kind in Europe.

The plan: the urban part-route of the A2 motorway, an important north-south artery in the Netherlands, will run underground through Maastricht between the Geusselt and Europaplein hubs over a length of some 2.3 km. The lanes of the lower tunnel level are intended for through traffic, for example from Eindhoven to Liege in Belgium and vice versa; the upper lanes are foreseen for local and regional traffic.