Utrecht – GalecopperBridge & IKEA v1.0
Specially for VFR flying Netherlands.
Utrecht Landmarks.
Galecopperbrug
The Galecopper Bridge is a steel cable-stayed bridge over the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal near the city of Utrecht. The bridge actually consists of two parts, the first part of which was opened in 1971 and the second part in 1976. The bridge functions as part of the A12 motorway and replaced an arch bridge from 1936. The old bridge was moved about 2 km to the northwest and still spans the same canal like De Meernbrug and now functions as the main approach route to the center of Utrecht.
In 1971 the National Steel Prize was awarded to the Galecopper Bridge. The bridge is 240 meters long with a main span of 180 meters. In fact, they are two bridges that are parallel, but slightly offset from each other because the bridge crosses the canal at an angle. The second half was not built until after the old arch bridge was moved and opened in 1976. [2]
The bridge has a total of 12 lanes: per direction there are two carriageways of 3 lanes each, so this bridge has a significantly greater capacity than its predecessor, which had two lanes per direction.
