IJplein ferry: a new bridge for cyclists and pedestrians

As the Amsterdam ferries across the IJ river become increasingly busy, the Municipality of Amsterdam decided to install a brand-new bicycle and pedestrian bridge. SealteQ Noord’s specialists are applying a coating system and a wear layer to the deck of the new IJpleinveer bridge, ensuring it will last for many years.

IJpleinveer Bridge Too Large for the Workshop

The city of Amsterdam is growing, and so is road traffic. For example, an increasing number of cyclists and pedestrians wish to cross the IJ river. To relieve the ferries, a bridge will be constructed over the Noord-Hollandsch Kanaal. Machinefabriek Rusthoven in Groningen, one of our long-standing partners, is building the bridge on behalf of BAM. Rusthoven engaged SealteQ Noord to preserve this bridge. The bridge is of considerable length: 32.5 meters long and six meters high. It was so long that a workshop had to be extended with a tent to allow us to carry out our work. This construction enabled us to apply the coating system and wear layer under ideal conditions, thereby laying the foundation for the longest possible service life.

Service Life Extension Treatments

The Municipality of Amsterdam requested a bridge with long-term maintenance-free performance. To ensure the new bridge has the longest possible service life, our specialists therefore both metallized and blasted it. Metallizing – the spraying of liquid zinc onto the structure after blasting – extends the service life because major maintenance is only required at a later stage. With a traditional preservation system, the bridge would require major maintenance after twenty years. A steel structure with a metallized layer applied beneath the coating system initially only requires minor maintenance after the same period. Thus, the maintenance cycle is significantly reduced due to the metallized layer. The bridge over the Noordhollands Kanaal was given an aluminum grey color. Applying this color is quite a challenge, explains project manager Marcel Vrijs. “It must be done correctly in one go, as the color is difficult to apply. Touch-ups are always visible with this color, making inconspicuous repair almost impossible.”

SealteQ also Applies the IJpleinveer Wear Layer

In addition to being a specialist in steel preservation, SealteQ is also a specialist in floor finishes. As the new bridge also requires a robust road surface, it is almost self-evident that we would undertake this task. Our specialists provided the bicycle path on the bridge with a durable wear layer featuring red aggregate, Indian Red. This protects the steel bridge deck against direct (traffic) loads and de-icing salts, as a coating system of normal thickness alone would not withstand these conditions.

The six-millimeter-thick wear layer consists of two parts: an epoxy slurry and aggregate sprinkled into it. This not only protects the steel but also functions as an anti-slip layer. As it is a bicycle and pedestrian bridge, it receives a fine-grained wear layer. The coarseness of the material depends on the bridge’s purpose and the speed at which it will be traversed; the heavier the traffic, the coarser the wear layer. The new IJpleinveer bridge is expected to be installed in 2022.