The Oosterwolde composite bridge was commissioned by the Province of Friesland and manufactured by FiberCore Europe. The bridge is 12 m long and 11.2 m wide and is designed to carry traffic up to 60 tons in weight.
According to FiberCore Europe, it is the first lift bridge in the world to have a deck construction built entirely from fibre reinforced plastic (FRP) composite.
FiberCore Europe, based in Rotterdam, used its Infra®Core Inside technology to manufacture the bridge deck. This has been developed for heavy-load-bearing composite structures such as composite bridges and composite lock gates.
Compared to concrete bridges the production cost of the InfraCore 60-ton-traffic bridge is relatively low. The bridge can also be installed quickly, reducing disruption to traffic. In most renovation projects, the existing bridge foundations can be re-used, since a deck made out of FRP composite is much lighter than concrete.
