The Erasmus bridge - the trademark of Rotterdam travel tips and stories. Vacations ideas, cruises spa and resorts

Every city should have a great piece of symbolic architecture - In Paris it’s the Eiffel Tower; in New York - the Empire State Building; in Rotterdam it’s the Erasmus bridge. The Erasmus Bridge is a cable stayed bridge across the Nieuwe Maas river. The Bridge was designed by Ben van Berkel and completed in 1996. The 808 metre long bridge has a 139 metre-high asymmetrical pylon, earning the bridge its nickname of “The Swan” by locals because of its graceful posture over the water. The southern span of the bridge has a 89 metre long bascule bridge for ships that cannot pass under the bridge. The bascule bridge is the largest and heaviest in West Europe and has the largest panel of its type in the world. The bridge was officially opened by Queen Beatrix on 6.09. 1996, having cost about 75 million Euros to construct. Shortly after the bridge opened to traffic in October 1996, it was discovered the bridge would swing under particularly strong wind conditions. To reduce the trembling, stronger shock dampeners were installed.

Constructed to facilitate the orchestration of traffic flows, the bridge design is inspired by, and in turn reflects, the industrial character of Rotterdam, adding to the narrative of the city. The bridge operates as the last crossing point between the Northern and Southern areas of the city, whilst its structural scale and design articulation has become a distinctive landmark within the surrounding skyline. The 139 m. tall pylon will become a new point of orientation, connected with, and announcing the new developments in the ‘Kop van Zuid’ area. The asymmetric form, with its bracket construction in sky coloured steel and its long cables, conveys the ‘mobile forces’, that is to say, the multitude of public, urban, constructive and architectural considerations that have been at the basis of the bridge. All details of the bridge have been treated integrally, from the five differently shaped concrete piers, to the railings, the landings, the joints of concrete and concrete, steel and steel, concrete and steel. The finish of each part is of crucial importance to the materialization of the whole.
A lighting plan was made to emphasize the multiple identity of the bridge as an urban artifact. At night, when the appearance of the bridge is reduced to a silhouette, special lighting from the inside will show up the interior of the bridge, with its bundled cables rising steeply above the water as a dematerialized image of its daytime self.
The asymmetric pylon, with its bracket construction in sky-coloured steel, has 2,000 different faces. The long, diagonal cables physically and metaphorically link Rotterdam-South to the city centre. Thirty two stays attached to the top of the pylon and eight back stays keep the structure in balance. Five concrete piers carry the steel deck, which is divided into two footpaths, two cycle paths, a tram track and two carriageways for motor vehicles.

The Erasmus Bridge is such a dramatic departure in bridge building that it has even become part of the city’s official logo. The structure with its unrivalled fascination permits people to move quickly from one end of the city to the other while offering beautiful views over the city from a variety of angles. In short, Erasmus Bridge is a public space in its own right, suspended in the air and yet preserving physical and metaphoric continuity with the city surrounding it.