Dutch national public work authority Rijkswaterstaat has officially completed the lowering of 462 groynes and the construction of a 10 km longitudinal training dam on the river Rhine.
The project costed €110 million and will reduce the water level on the Rhine with 6 – 12 centimeters in case of an extreme discharge.
Contractors involved in the project were Van den Herik and Boskalis Nederland. Consultancy firm Arcadis was in charge of the environmental planning, contract management and technical management.
The effects of this first Dutch longitudinal river training dam will be monitored closely for the next three years. A research program called RiverCare with three universities (Wageningen, Nijmegen and Delft) and research institute Deltares has been set up.
The Rhine is one of the world’s most frequented inland waterways. In the Dutch downstream part alone some 600 ships passage per day. This economic importance makes it necessary to keep the main channel of the river deep enough for the inland navigation.