Unconfirmed reports now of Viabuild placing the bridge on 30/31 April.
Originally slated for installation on 15-17 March, the €2.5 million ‘Ski Hut’ could now be placed within “weeks”. The Vier-Armen pedestrian and cyclist bridge is part of the F29 fietssnelweg, the €17 million cycle motorway, between Tervuren and Leuven.
“The actual placing would, hopefully, be a question of weeks and not months,” says Marijn Strujfs from the Flemish public works agency, De Werkvennootschap. “We have to make sure everything happens safely for everyone involved. If that’s not the case then we have to cancel. That translated into social media stories about weight [Ed. of the bridge],” he tells Tervuren+.
Facebook’s many experts were quick to proclaim the delay as caused by the 290 ton bridge being too heavy for the lifting machines. And there was further online speculation about the delay spoiling photo and ribbon-cutting opportunities for Tervuren grandees and Flanders’ mobility and construction minister, Lydia Peeters, just ahead of elections on 9 June.
But why do all these construction works collide with upcoming elections? “It has absolutely nothing to do with elections. Whatever happens, we’re going to place that bridge. It’s all been built. It’s there now,” says Marijn.
“We’ve placed about 15-20 bridges over the past few years. They all went fine. This is the first time something like this happened. We have a huge checklist of things that have to be perfectly okay or else we don’t risk it,”
“A few days in advance, we saw that a couple of things just couldn’t be checked off. There’s no single reason. It’s not just the weight, weather, traffic or whatever,” Marijn says.
“There’s always a big difference between what happens in reality and when we sketch out bridges in offices and technically calculate weight, distribution and all the technical stuff,” he tells Tervuren+.
Is there an extra cost for the delay? “The extra cost, luckily, is not for the Flemish taxpayer, but for Viabuild.”
Cyclists complaining
On Facebook, cyclists have also not been too happy about the closed bridge structure. Won’t it be unsafe, cycling back at night from work in Brussels? “We’ve made the bridge so that you can see through the hallway. That’s a design choice for an extra effect of social security. It should not feel enclosed. And we’ve constructed the bridge with some ten openings and, of course, lighting.” If security cameras are to be placed, though, it will have to be by police.
Ski Hut was the name given by Tervuren natives driving by during the winter snow. Officials, though, preferred ‘birdhouse’, given the bridge crosses into the beautiful Sonian forest. Weighing 290 tons, including furnishings, the €2.5 million bridge hails from German firm Holzbau Amann, based just north of Zürich. No European money was used for the bridge itself. But the late King Baudouin’s fund chipped in a tidy €494,802.
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