Brielen Bridge

About

The Brielenbrug is a bridge over the Zeekanaal Brussels-Schelde in Tisselt, a submunicipality of Willebroek. The Sea Canal cuts Tisselt from north to south into two and the Brielen Bridge forms the connection of both canal banks. The bridge was built in 1968 with a metal movable section with a length of 38.4 m and a width of 11.6 m. The bridge is identical in size to the Humbeek Bridge and the Verbrande Bridge in Grimbergen which were built in the same year. The Brielenbrug has been remotely operated since January 2009 from the central control station of Waterwegen and Zeekanaal in Willebroek.

Incident: On September 19, 2014, the bridge came into the news. During asphalt works, the bridge became unbalanced and one side went up unintentionally. Some of the cables that lift the bridge came under too high pressure and broke off, after which one of the counterweights crashed. Both the bridge deck and the counterweight and the concrete tube were damaged. As the bridge is an important traffic artery in the area, measures were needed to avoid a traffic attack. The first week a bus service was installed that connected both banks via the bridge of Kapelle...