The municipality of Sittard wanted a new bicycle and pedestrian bridge over the railway on the site of Bedrijvenstad Fortuna. At the beginning of 2012, SIDstudio carried out the structural SO and VO study for the bridge in close collaboration with the architect Zwarts & Jansma Architects. From this, one bridge variant emerged as a favourite and required adjustments to the PVE became clear.
On both sides of the Sittard-Maastricht railway line, a new architectural landscape will be built so that the railway no longer forms a barrier. A new bicycle and pedestrian bridge in Sittard plays an important role in this and establishes a relationship between the two sides of the railway. It forms on a small scale the connection between the TASs restructuring area on one side and on the other side Business City Fortuna and Sportzone Limburg. On a larger scale, the bridge is even the missing link in the recreational cycling network between the city centre of Sittard and the outer area.
The bridge is of great importance for the success of the adjacent projects and this may be represented by the design of the bridge. It deserves an appealing, progressive design that matches the dynamic and drive of the athletes in the Sportzone, the functionality and effectiveness of companies in Fortuna business and the security and cohesion of the working class TASs district.
At the beginning of 2012, the collaboration started between Zwarts & Jansma Architects and SIDstudio. A series of sculptures were developed and studied both architecturally and structurally. In particular, the process of “Formfinding” based on “minimum surfaces” and varying force-densities provided many interesting structures that formed the basis for the final design – an anticlastic curved skin made up from single curved strips.
In order to obtain the free space for train traffic under the bridge with a minimum height of the bridges, the deck had to have a minimum thickness in the middle zone of the span. Since the internal forces in the middle of the span are governing, the railing is designed as part of the main structure.
The bridge was placed as one element on 24-9-2016.