The Blue Carpet
The Blue Carpet, is a series of bridges under construction in Groningen, Netherlands. It will connect the village of Blauwestad with Winschoten, the largest city in the region. It is a cycle and footbridge, wide and long. Its estimated cost is 6 million euro, with a completion date isslated for February 2021.
The bridge deck will be made of 350 cubic meters of FSC-certified Lophira alata wood from Gabon, Africa, supplied by Wijma Kampen B.V. The bridge has an 80-year design life. It is designed to be bat-friendly in paint and solar LED lighting.
The official name of the bridge will be the Pieter Smitbrug, after an Oldambt mayor.
The 2004 was created to revive the Oldambt area of East Groningen, which had been declining in population and economically poor since the 1980s. The Oldambtmeer was created by re-flooding land in 2005, and the future town of Blauwestad was also named in 2005. Residents began to arrive in small numbers in 2006, and changes in the global markets caused redesigns in 2010 and 2013. Beginning in 2015, asylum seekers began to populate the area as part of the European migrant crisis, setting 125 homes.
The bridge crosses the Oldambtmeer, the A7 motorway, the Winschoterdiep, and a nature preserve. It will have access stairways to the Oldambt neighborhoods of and Noordereinde.
