The Willemsbrug (English: "William Bridge") is a
bridge
A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...
next to the
Erasmusbrug in the centre of
Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...
,
Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
, spanning the
Nieuwe Maas. It links the northern part of the city with the ''
Noordereiland'' and (in combination with the
Koninginnebrug) the district of
''Feijenoord''.
The bridge was completed in 1981, designed by C. Veerling and named after King
Willem III of the Netherlands. It replaced an older bridge that had been opened in 1879 but was severely outdated by the time the decision was made to build a new one. Because of the intensity of the traffic using the old bridge, it was decided to build the new one 150 metres upstream to avoid upsetting the daily flow of traffic across the river. After the completion of the new bridge, the old one was demolished.
The Willemsbrug is a
cable-stayed bridge with a total span of about 318 meters. It is painted in a red color which puts it in sharp contrast with the light blue painted Erasmus Bridge.
See Also
*
Maasbeeld
References
External links
*
Bridges completed in 1981
Bridges over the Rhine
Cable-stayed bridges in the Netherlands
Road bridges in the Netherlands
Steel bridges in the Netherlands
Bridges in Rotterdam
Towers in Rotterdam
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