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The Slauerhoffbrug "Flying Drawbridge" and Other Impressive Dutch Overpasses

By Sam Dunne - January 1, 2015

From mega-dams to cutting edge architecture, the Dutch seem to consistently pull off some pretty impressive infrastructure innovations—often characterised by characterful creative solutions to age old built environment challenges.

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One such delight, is the Slauerhoffbrug—a fully automatic bascule bridge (aka tail bridge) in the city of Leeuwarden. Referred to by bridge fan-boys as a "Flying Drawbridge", the Slauerhoff lifts what is essentially a section of the road into the air to make room for passing water traffic. By doing away with the hinged mechanism of typical two-part raising tail bridges, this impressive piece of engineering can raise and lower much quicker than its traditional counterparts, allowing for minimum disruption to traffic on river or road.

Of course the Slauerhoffbrug is not the only triumph of dutch overpasses—if you're looking for more bridgey inspiration make sure to check out the trippy Knardijk Aquaduct (below top) or the equally mindbending Moses Bridge (below bottom) these days looking much greener than back when we first reported on it.

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The Slauerhoffbrug "Flying Drawbridge" and Other Impressive Dutch Overpasses

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Sam Dunne

Sam Dunne is a designer, strategist and writer based in London. Sam is founder of design strategy agency Cohere and Contributing Editor at Core77—reporting broadly on design, technology, food and object culture.