• Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava was contracted in 1999 to design three bridges on the Hoofdvaart in the Dutch town of Hoofddorp (Haarlemmermeer). Calatrava designed three distinctive white cable-stayed bridges, each with a shrill steel pylon that both an aesthetic as a constructive function - typical of the work of the Spaniard.
• The bridge is 143 m long.
• The place is still important for the water: cross-intersections come from the Hoofdvaart, and two ground (in southern Leeghwater Lijnden and in the north) pumps water from the polders. Moreover, on both sides of the shipping company Hoofdweg, an important link for the local north-south traffic. The bridges of Calatrava are clearly intended to contribute to this backbone of the polder to the mark with prominent objects. The Council also wanted a good economic growth, especially Hoofddorp in the preceding decades to capture visually stunning architecture.
• Within the community of Haarlemmermeer the plans for the construction of the bridges was controversial. Many felt that the bridges were too extravagant for the relatively narrow sharply Hoofdvaart canal. For the construction in 1999 was 16.4 million euros made available, but the final cost amounted to 28.8 million euros.
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