Zeeland bridge at sunset by Jan Jongejan

About "Zeeland bridge at sunset"

by Jan Jongejan

About the artwork

The Zeeland Bridge (1965, initially the Oosterschelde Bridge) is a road bridge over the Oosterschelde estuary with a total length of 5022 metres. It links Noord-Beveland and Schouwen-Duiveland, thus providing a shorter connection between the towns of Middelburg and Goes on the southern side, and Zierikzee and Bruinisse on the northern side. The bridge is part of the provincial road N256.

The bridge was built on the initiative of the Province of Zeeland. The roads over the new delta dams which were constructed as part of the Delta Works opened up Zeeland to traffic, but the Oosterschelde remained an obstacle. The existing provincial ferry connection between Zierikzee on Schouwen-Duiveland and Kats on Noord-Beveland could no longer cope with the volume of traffic. And according to the original plans, the Oosterschelde would not be dammed up until 1978, which would eventually take until 1986 in the form of the Oosterscheldekering. The Province of Zeeland therefore decided to build a bridge between Zierikzee and Colijnsplaat in order to have an uninterrupted north-south connection before then. The province entrusted the construction and operation to an independent company, the NV Provinciale Zeeuwse Brug Maatschappij, which was wholly owned by the province.

The bridge company gave the contract for the construction to the Combinatie Brug Oosterschelde on the 29th of May 1962, a cooperation between the contractors Van Hattum and Blankevoort NV from Beverwijk and the NV Amster