You usually see a bridge from the road that crosses it. In Vroenhoven, looking down is worthwhile too. A modern design, the Albert Canal and an important piece of wartime history come together here. The title of this report refers to Onder de Brug, the name associated with the location.
The present design is by Ney & Partners and was built between 2007 and 2011. The bridge is 195 metres long in total and 18.5 metres wide. The first figure is the overall length, not a single clear span. The central section spans one hundred metres.
The replacement was linked to widening the Albert Canal for larger vessels. A bridge here is part of a shipping route: what seems spacious enough on the road can be a bottleneck on the water.
The bunker beside the new concrete
The historic bunker beside the bridge was preserved. On 10 May 1940, Vroenhoven, along with places including Veldwezelt, Kanne and Eben-Emael, was a target of a German surprise attack. Gliders carried the attackers to the bridges and the fort. The visitor centre covers both the outbreak of war and inland shipping.
The old bridge was lost later in the war. Here, it is important not to merge the attack of 1940 and the events around the liberation into a single event. The bunker and visitor centre show how much history can lie behind an apparently ordinary canal crossing.
For the photographs, the combination is particularly appealing. The lines of the new structure, the scale of the canal and the older fortification sit close together. The design takes that setting into account; it is more than a road that happens to have been laid above the water.
If you only use the bridge to drive to the other side, you soon leave it behind. Stay a little longer and there is plenty to see both above and below the deck.
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