Fort, vesting en -onderdelen, NHW-Werken Fort De Bilt/Lunetten Utrecht

English translation

The text above is the record as published by the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed, in Dutch. The English below is a machine translation made by TreeAlive, not by the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed; it has not been checked by a person. Where the two differ, the original is the record. Report a translation error: privacy@treealive.com

Description

Cluster 301. Sluice / Barrier / (Demolition)Culvert/bridge.

NEW HOLLAND WATER LINE

Introduction

SLUICE / BARRIER / (DEMOLITION)CULVERT / BRIDGE in the Kromme Rijn, beneath and along the Waterlinieweg, as a 20th-century hydraulic engineering addition to the existing and adapted defence and inundation system of the New Holland Water Line. The work lies near the northernmost point of Lunet I. The defence system of the New Holland Water Line was primarily based on the controlled flooding of (large) land areas. Controlled inundation required an ingenious system of water works, such as sluices, weirs, channels and waterways, by means of which the water level could be set and maintained rapidly and within narrow limits. Many channels, waterways and works were already present on site and these required at most some adaptation and in particular widening and/or deepening, or streamlining or modification of (barrier) function. Other waters and water works, however, had to be specially constructed. The sluice / barrier / culvert / bridge in the river Kromme Rijn beneath and east of the Waterlinieweg is an addition that came about with the construction of this road along the east side of Utrecht in the late 1930s of the 20th century. The road connected the largely completed motor road from The Hague to Utrecht from the 'Lunetten Junction' with the – at the beginning of the Second World War not yet completed, but already in use – roundabout 'De Berekuil', west of Fort de Bilt. The relationship between this traffic infrastructure work and the water works constructed in connection with it was very strong because the dike body on which the road was to be built would become part of the water barrier of the inundation zone to its east. The barrier could be closed to protect the city of Utrecht from water damage when the water level was raised. This relationship is still easily recognizable. The sluice / culvert / barrier was also important for regulating the water level in the fort ditches and the inundation canal at the Lunetten. The work was built as a 'navigation culvert' but could be permanently closed by means of sand and explosive charges placed in the culvert above the water level and could thus function as a so-called 'demolition culvert'. The coherence with the road constructed a few years before the Second World War gives the object a certain rarity value. It has comparable counterparts in two more northerly examples in the Biltsche Grift (presumed) and in the Minstroom. The culvert later became part of an exit of the Waterlinieweg. West of the culvert / bridge, a wider plate bridge was later built, which may have incorporated part of existing structures.

Description

SLUICE / BARRIER / (DEMOLITION)CULVERT / BRIDGE in the Kromme Rijn, beneath and along the Waterlinieweg, consisting of two components. The largest is a largely reinforced concrete, rectangular, with chamfered corners, hollow, box-shaped (DEMOLITION)CULVERT / BRIDGE of approximately 15 m length and approximately 10 m width beneath the Waterlinieweg. In the hollow of the span, some cross connections have been made, with space reserved for the placement of pipes for placing explosives. The curved bottom of the culvert, which had to be made of unreinforced concrete in order to blow it out, had not been placed when the war broke out, as a result of which the demolition culvert was never complete. On the south side a walkway with an iron balustrade. The walkway forms part of the tow path along the Kromme Rijn. East of the culvert, a remnant of a SLUICE / BARRIER and sluice walls provided with iron-reinforced (stop-plank) seatings with above them a remnant of a davit (on the south side only) for lowering a (stop-plank) barrier or moving a gate. The construction of sluice / barrier / culvert / bridge is in less authentic condition.

Valuation

The SLUICE / BARRIER / (DEMOLITION)CULVERT / BRIDGE in the Kromme Rijn, beneath and along the Waterlinieweg, is of general importance because of:

* Cultural-historical values as part of the New Holland Water Line as designed by C.R.T. Kraijenhoff and initially constructed from 1815 by him, Jan Blanken and Major Engineer Willem Offerhaus and subsequently strengthened and improved by others for more than 125 years.

* Architectural-historical values in particular as an expression of military-strategic building engineering, which is based on the system of inundation and access defence (19th and 20th centuries).

The component is an example of a historical hydraulic engineering expression related to military-strategic building engineering.

* Ensemble value and situational values as part of the New Holland Water Line. Also because of the functional and physical coherence with the other components of the complex and in particular with the counterparts or related works in the Waterlinieweg at the Erasmuslaan / Albert van Dalsumlaan in the Minstroom and at the Offerhausweg in the Biltsche Vaart or Biltsche Grift.

* The component is reasonably well preserved because the main form and function have remained clearly recognizable and intact.

* The component is reasonably representative because it is an example of a large culvert / bridge with water barrier built specifically in a new road system and in connection with the New Holland Water Line.

* The component is representative because it is an example of a large culvert / bridge built specifically in a new road system and in connection with the New Holland Water Line. Although the component has not been completed – or precisely for that reason – both the main form and the function are clearly recognizable. The component also represents rarity value as a relic of a 'demolition sluice construction'.