Study of movable bridges in Zwolle city centre

The municipality of Zwolle encompasses a region featuring both fixed and movable bridges. A study has been initiated into the future of three movable bridges in Zwolle’s city centre: the Kievits, Kerk and Pelser Bridges. A key issue relating to these bridges is compliance with the applicable laws and regulations (including the EC Machinery Directive); the municipality expects major investments to be required in the short term (2023-2025). An important consideration here is that the bridges are only opened a limited number of times each year. For this reason, the municipality is looking for practical alternatives to operating them mechanically and, as a result, limiting future investments.

Witteveen+Bos conducted a study into what practicable alternatives exist for these bridges, including the associated costs (investments and LCC). In preparation for the study, location visits were conducted at the three bridges, previously completed studies and the available documentation were gathered, and interviews were conducted with representatives of the municipality. In this way, the basic principles for the study were established and a generic assessment framework could be created on the basis of a multicriteria analysis with value metrics for testing the alternatives. The three ‘best’ alternatives –  to be further developed in the final report – were subsequently selected for each bridge and an LCC analysis was carried out for each alternative.

The municipality of Zwolle is currently reviewing the study and expects in the short term to decide what will happen with the three bridges to prepare them for the future.