Benelux Cycling Tunnel, Rotterdam

Benelux cycling tunnel is a 2002 cycling tunnel under the Nieuwe Maas (New Meuse). It is a connection between the municipalities of Vlaardingen and Schiedam to the Rotterdam suburbs of Pernis and Hoogvliet and the town of Spijkenisse. The large area of petrochemical industry in the port area of Rotterdam is also easily reached through this tunnel.

Benelux Tunnel is one of the few crossing possibilities of the New Meuse in the Rotterdam Port area.

The original Beneluxtunnel was a tunnel for motorised traffic only, that was completed in 1967. It was built to the west of Rotterdam to relieve the older Maastunnel in the centre. Cyclists kept their ferry from Vlaardingen to the area of the petrochemical industry to the south of the river. The Royal Dutch Shell oil refinery near Pernis is the largest refinery in Europe and one of the largest in the world. With the expansion the old tunnel really became a system of different tunnel tubes for motorised traffic, a metro-line and one tube for cyclists and pedestrians.

North entrance for cyclists and pedestrians

There was no room for an elaborate entrance building, in fact the entrance could only have the width of the cycling tunnel tube itself. So the escalators and the elevators were not placed next to each other but behind each other in line with the tunnel. To make the entrance stand out in the enormous scale of the port area it has concrete columns which are a lot higher than necessary. So cyclists can use it as a point of orientation. The entrance is kept open on three sides to make sure people do not use it for other purposes. The roof is made of glass so a lot of light floods into the tunnel but it is still shielded from rain and snow. The glass plates span 4 meters, a larger span for horizontal glass than ever used before.

A lot of attention was given to the inside of the tunnel as well. For a better atmosphere which enhances the feeling of social safety, the tunnel was finished with high quality materials. The curved ceiling is lighted from below. A mirror of polished steel on one side gives the impression the tunnel is twice as wide as it really is. A poem was integrated in the tiles of the tunnel walls. This gives cyclists and pedestrians not only some ‘entertainment’ while using the tunnel it also gives them a sense of how far in the tunnel they are.

Inside Benelux Cycling Tunnel. To the right a fragment of the poem.

The poem is nicknamed ‘the longest poem in the world’ and it spans the full length of the tunnel which is over 800 meters (half a mile) long. It was written by contemporary Rotterdam poet Jules Deelder and it can be read going from south to north. (In bold the letters you can see on the above picture.)

Lieve Ari	Dear Ari
Wees niet bang	Don’t be afraid
De wereld is rond	The world is round
en dat istie al lang	and it has been for long
De mensen zijn goed	The people are good
de mensen zijn slecht	the people are bad
Maar ze gaan allen	But they all go
dezelfde weg	the same road
Hoe langer je leeft	The longer you live
hoe korter het duurt	the shorter it takes
Je komt uit het water	You come from the water
en gaat door het vuur	and go through the fire
Daarom lieve Ari	Therefore dear Ari
Wees niet bang	Don’t be afraid
De wereld draait rond	The world turns around
en dat doettie nog lang	and it will do for long

And of course: my blog post wouldn't be complete without a video.


Why this isn't so important as you might think Exceptional infrastructure like this is always interesting to see, but what causes people to cycle in large numbers is the very tight network of everyday, but high quality, cycle routes.