Natuurbrug Weerterbergen - E25

Hell fine there

The Weerterbergen Nature Bridge is a nature connection consisting of two ecoducts in the A2 motorway and the Eindhoven-Weert railway line near the Maarheezerhutten viaduct. The ecoduct is located between Weert and the provincial border of North Brabant and Limburg. The nature bridge connects the Weerterbos with the Weerter and Budelerbergen. The Weerterbergen, after which the ecoduct is named, together with the Budelerbergen form a nature reserve of approximately 900 hectares and is an important bird breeding area. The nature reserve consists of coniferous forests, heaths and drifting sands. Part of it was set up as the military training area at the Budel / Nassau-Dietz barracks army training ground. The nature bridge consists of two structures, one over the Eindhoven-Weert railway line and the other over the A2. The ecoduct over the railway is 24 meters long and 40 meters wide, the part over the A2 is 75 meters long and 40 meters wide. The ecoduct over the motorway has a pillar in the central reservation and spans the parallel Doctor Anton Philipsweg. The Weerterbergen Nature Bridge is part of the Multi-year Defragmentation Program, in which, among other things, a number of ecoducts will be built for 2018 to connect different nature areas with each other, so that animals can move undisturbed from one area to another. Another ecoduct in the A2 that is part of this program is Ecoduct Groote Heide, which is slightly more to the north. The placement of the girders for the motorway section of both ecoducts took place simultaneously during a 24-hour closure of the A2 between the Leenderheide and Weert junction in the weekend of 6 and 7 July 2013. The girders across the track were put in place in April . Construction of the Weerterbergen Nature Bridge started January 21, 2013 and was completed on January 8, 2014. The official opening was on March 12, 2014. The project was a collaboration between Rijkswaterstaat and ProRail.