Haringpakkersbrug/Bridge 58 information and history
The Singel is one of the oldest canals in Amsterdam so you would expect that a bridge over the Singel is centuries old right? Wrong. Nothing could be further from the truth. For centuries the Haarlemmersluis #brug16 was the bridge that separated the Singel from the IJ. Traffic passing over the Prins Hendrikkade or its predecessor, the Texel Quay had to enter the city to cross the Singel, as can be seen on Frederik de Wit’s map from 1688.
Photographer Pieter Oosterhuis documented a wooden tram bridge here around 1887 so there was definitely a bridge here then.
In 1931 a plan was made for radial roads from Amsterdam-Centrum to the outskirts. The route west to Haarlem would then no longer run via the Haarlemmerdijk and Haarlemmerstraat but instead via the Haarlemmer Houttuinen. The trams left the Haarlemmerstraat in 1955 when a bus line was introduced. In 1965 and again in 1968, the municipality discussed the plan and the Public Works Department was asked to come up with the design of a bridge. Dirk Sterenberg, the then city bridges architect, created a design and in April 1971 the contractors began construction. The Haringpakkersbrug was given a width that connected with the planned four-lane road with a tram track. New insights led to a reduced two-lane road and the tram rails laid down in 1985 were never used.
Photos from the archive and Wikipedia
1. Pieter Oosterhuis’s tram bridge with the Central Station under construction in the background c: 1887
2. Artwork under the Haringspakkersbrug in Amsterdam. The text reads: “Coming back is not the same as staying”. The letters made of red plastic are used by the passengers of passing party boats to store empty champagne bottles. (Wikipedia: Milliped) August 9, 2017
3. Plaque at the bicycle underpass on the south side of the Haringspakkersbrug. The text is “Zynde nine feet and five feet above city level” (Wikipedia: Milliped) August 9, 2017
4. Bridge from above Collectie Bureau Monumentenzorg
1953 ca. t/m 1995 ca.
5. The predecessor of the Haringpakkersbrug as a separation between the Singel and the Open Havenfront Atelier Herz 1884
6. Brug 58 Martin Alberts 13