The Willebroek Ring Road (N16) – a Development in the Construction of Concrete Roads

The Willebroek ring road is part of the N16 Mechelen - St. Niklaas road. The work was carried out in 3 phases, the first phase starting in 1986. In practice, the ring was constructed with 20 cm of continuously reinforced concrete (50.000 m 2 ). Exposed aggregate surface was required in each case. The design of the road pavement for the first and second phases of the work were defined according to the then applicable savings requirements, whereby the width of pavements was kept to the absolute minimum required (in this case 7 m for two lanes in each direction) and whereby there was no bituminous layer between the foundation and the pavement. The difference between the first and the second phase was in the road base. In the first phase, Puzzolan concrete was used as the road base on a trial basis while in the second phase it was decided to switch to lean concrete. In the third phase, which was carried out in 1994-'95, a number of important changes were made based on experience: - widening with on one side a channel (75 cm) and on the other side a lateral strip (50 cm) to make up the total width of 8,25 m - application of a 6 cm thick layer between the lean concrete base and the continuously reinforced concrete. Additionally, during the construction of the third phase a special construction joint was designed between the continuous reinforced concrete and the asphalt to limit the need for expensive anchoring lugs.