Please sign in to post.

Delta Works in southwestern Holland

Any tips on touring the Delta Works, particularly the Oosterschelde surge barrier?

Posted by
12040 posts

Do you mean are tours offered or do you just want to see the infrastructure? Although I can't say for certain that tours are not offered, I would doubt it. From what I've seen driving by in Zeeland, it doesn't look like much of the infrastructure is accessible to the public.

Posted by
32352 posts

Melissa, I was at the Oosterschelde Surge Barrier last September, but not sure if they offer tours? I was there on a Sunday and it was very quiet. There's a large concrete building (Control Centre?) at one end of the barrier, but it was locked up and no sign of any staff. If you happen to be in the Rotterdam area, you might consider taking a tour of the Maeslant surge barrier (Maeslantkering) . It's an incredible engineering achievement! There's a Visitor Centre on one side, which provides a good overview of how and why the facility was built. It's one of the largest moving structures on earth, and one aspect I found to be amazing - the operation is completely computerized so no human control is involved (although there's also a Control Centre on one side, and people will be there to monitor operation). The ball & socket pivot structure on each gate is 10-meters in diameter! Standing underneath the "arms" of the huge gates is incredible! For information on the Keringhuis / Maeslant site, have a look at This Website. Happy travels!