The Erasmus Bridge: Success factors according to those involved in the project

The Erasmus Bridge: Success factors according to those involved in the project

De Jong, M.
Annema, J.A.

Technology, Policy and Management

Infrastructures, Systems and Services

2010-10-11

This paper describes a case study of a successful major transport infrastructure project. There is relatively much literature on unsuccessful infrastructure projects and the subsequent lessons learned. In contrast there is hardly any literature on successful infrastructure projects. This paper wants to contribute in filling this scientific gap. The case is the Erasmus bridge in the Dutch city of Rotterdam which connects the banks of the Meuse River. This bridge is a success story for three reasons. The first two reason for success are that the bridge was built on time and within budget. The bridge cost about 163 million euro (1996 prices), with a budget of 165 million (1991 prices), and was opened on the precise date as planned. Its main goal was not to solve a traffic problem, or to expand the existing network. One of the main reasons for constructing is that the bridge should function as a landmark, and that is the third reason for success: the bridge has indeed become a trade mark for the city of Rotterdam. Based on interviews with people involved in the project, the main reason for success appears to be the culture of realistic estimating at the municipality of Rotterdam: an estimation culture that was aimed to be as accurate as possible. Two elements are crucial, as the interviewees have explained: a refusal to make lower estimations in order to help getting the required funds from local or national government and the ability to make very accurate cost estimations. To be able to make accurate estimations in turn requires experience; experience with doing estimations, building bridges, with problems associated with major projects and experience with dealing with contractors. All of these ingredients were according to the interviewees available when planning the Erasmus Bridge and contributed to making this bridge a success story.

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:e2f9a163-5471-4bb0-9071-fce5df43ed90

Association for European Transport (AET)

ETC 2010: European Transport Conference, Glasgow, UK, 11-13 October 2010

Institutional Repository

conference paper

(c) 2010 The Author(s)
Association for European Transport