The Veluwemeer Aqueduct: Netherland's Unique Water Bridge

Bloodyashes@lemm.ee to pics@lemmy.world – 415 points –
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The Veluwemeer Aqueduct, also known as the Drontermeeraqueduct, is a unique structure in the Netherlands that carries a canal over a large lake.This impressive water bridge spans the Veluwemeer lake, connecting the provinces of Flevoland and Gelderland

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It’s basically a very short tunnel when you think about it.

You don't really notice it when driving underneath, but standing at the top or sailing across such aqueducts is very weird

doesn't seem real deep

A lot of the larger boats on inland waters here have flat bottoms, and the smaller boats are just not that deep. So it’s sufficient for the typical boat traffic.

Any reason this was more practical than building a bridge?

Tall sail boats.

But it's only 3m deep. How long are keels on tall sailboats?

A lot of the sail ships used on inland waters here have flat bottoms, like for instance the skûtsje. So they can sail in quite shallow waters.

[edit] I’ve looked it up and for instance a tjalk (historic freight ship) can have a mast height of around 20-25 meters, but has a sailing depth of only 80-200 cm. Due to their flat bottoms, they can easily move around the inland lakes and canals, which are often only a few meters deep.

Most 10-meter-ish sailboats have less than 3 meters-deep keels, usually less than 2 meters.

No height restriction for boats with masts perhaps

I don't get it. Is it a road bridge across the lake with an aquaduct above it? But then is the road above or below water level?

This is the Netherlands, where swaths of the land is below sea level. So, naturally, this is a road below the water's surface with an aqueduct above it, enabling boaters to cross over the road. Or at least that's what I'm seeing here.

It's a road on a man-made land bridge before and after this aqueduct. In this shot here, it's a bit hard to see, but the road is actually on a slight angle to make more room for the aqueduct. The walls around the road are only for this section, as out of frame the road is almost certainly on top of your bog standard land bridge.