Comenius Project

The Skyline of Rotterdam, seen from the Meuse

The trafficproblems around Rotterdam, due the Meuse

This is a selection of what sources I used. Most sources were Dutch, so I haven't mentioned them. These are usefull for you as well.
- MS Encarta 1995. English CD-ROM encyclopedia 1995 > Rotterdam / The Netherlands / Meuse
- www.fileplan.info.nl (Traffic-Plan Regio Rotterdam)
- www.minvenw.nl (Ministry of Transport and Public Works)
- www.port.rotterdam.nl (The Port of Rotterdam official website)
- www.betuweroute.nl (Page of the new Betuwe freightline; Rotterdam-Germany)
- www.verkeersinfo.nl (The current traffic around Amsterdam and Rotterdam)
- http://mediaport.org/~maasboek/html/maasboek.html (information about Rotterdam)

I would like to thank my geography-teacher Lucia Smit and my English-teacher Paul Peterhans for taking out the numerous error(s).

If you would like to react (or complain), to receive more information about a subject (no matter what), please do so at: Mail or aqua_hml@hotmail.com.

The surroundings of Rotterdam are often full of cars and lorries. They're waiting before the narrow bridges and tunnels. The people in the cars are going to their home on the other bank of the river. And this is in short what this text is about: the traffic-problems around and in Rotterdam, caused by the Meuse.

Rotterdam is named after the small settlement near the Rotte, a small river. Rotterdam stands for a dam in the Rotte. There the Rotte flowed into the Meuse. The Meuse is a European river from north-France via Belgium to the North-Sea. The New Meuse is a confluence of the Meuse and the Rhine /Rein. Both are important waterways to Belgium, Germany, France and beyond. So, it is on the perfect site for a growing city with glamorous business.Almost immediately the people crossed the river and started the harbour on the south (left) bank.
Now the city of Rotterdam lodges 582,000 inhabitants, and large-Rotterdam 1,051,000 (in 1996). They live in respectively 299.10 km² and 540.12 km². That means that there live 1946.79 people per one square kilometer. Most of them go to their work and back five times a week. People from out of Rotterdam come to Rotterdam either. Every morning and evening in the rush-hour hundreds of thousands are on the road, or in the public transport. But however they go, they must cross the Meuse. This gives Rotterdam the disadvantage that it's divided in two parts, South and North. Although they are just four-hundred meters away from each other, it gives large psychologial and technical problems; There are just seven places where you can cross the river.
These are the questions I'll treat in this summary:

- How does Rotterdam solve the barrier of the Meuse?
- Does the river "fit" in the city?
- Does the North/South-distance become smaller?

Freighttransport from east to west in the Netherlands per transportsector (in mln ton).
Kind of transport	1986	2015 lowest prognosis economy.	2015 highest prognosis economy.
Inland navigation	143	211	260
Railroad	12	23	37
Road	95	156	183

The Meuse, in Dutch De Maas, is a European river from North-France to The North-Sea. It passes Belgium and The Netherlands. In its last kilometers it flows into the Nieuwe Waterweg (stands for New Waterway), dug from 1866 to 1890. This canal from Rotterdam to the North-Sea is a very important connection. It's one of the crowdest canals in Europa.

Rotterdam has developed itself to become the largest port in the World. Rotterdam also tranfers the most containers of all ports all over the world.

It's an ideal place for commerce. So, in notime there was a flourishing business and trade. Rotterdam grew into the most important harbour of Europe, in the world together with Singapore.

The harbour is mostly situated on the south-bank. There are also the most residential districts. This is the second part of the city. The houses are a little old and the area is like all near-harbourdistricts.

On the north there is a large financial district. Impressive office-blocks of known banks and coöperations define the skyline. Rotterdam is sometimes called " the Dutch New York" and for Dutch proportions it is true. Rotterdam is one of the richest cities in Holland. High buildings and small tourist entertaintment define the north-bank. The south one is used for the harbour. But the port-industry moved (moves) to the sea, westwards. The eastern harbours have been abandoned. The area was pauperized. Rotterdam started an ambitious project, called "Kop van Zuid" (Head of South). It implies a rebuilding the area with houses and offices. It is now a nice place to live or to work.

Once, Rotterdam had a ferry commuting between both banks. Now, there are only three tunnels for motorised traffic, one for the metrosytem (in the near future two) and one for the trains, and four bridges (two of these form one watercrossing). Rotterdam has to stay attractive to industry, because else they will move away to another port. The bad traffic is the biggest disadvantage of Rotterdam. Now I will explain each of the tunnels /bridges a little, from sea to inland.

Benelux-tunnel: A motorised traffic tunnel, which is now enlarged by four lanes and a metrotunnel. It is the last water-passage the Meuse sees before the sea.
Maas-tunnel: The first tunnel of Holland. It provides passage for all kind of roadtraffic, including pedestrians and cyclers.

The notorious Erasmus-bridge during its inauguration Erasmus-bridge: Although named after a well known Dutch sciencist, the bridge is not very succesful. The barriers on the bridge are often out of order, the bridge itself won't lower when opened, and the gayropes move in the wind. It is an important link between North and the "Kop v. Zuid".
Willems-bridge: The red bridge on the frontpage. It links North to the Noordereiland (Northern island), an island in the middle of the Meuse.
Koninginne-bridge: stands for Queen-bridge, this old bridge was built in 1876 forms together with the Willemsbrug a North-South-link. From South to the Noordereiland.
Willemstunnel: the new rail-tunnel replaces the old elevated track through Rotterdam, including the famous "Hef". The tunnel consists of four tracks from the Central Station to the South station, and further to Brussels and Paris. It was completed in 1992.
Van Brienenoord-bridge: The widest bridge in The Netherlands; 2 X 6 freeway-lanes. These two bridges lie parallel to each other. The part of freeway A16 / E19, of which the bridges form part of, is the most crowded part of Holland.