Floating road offers a solution for peat soils in Amsterdam Landelijk Noord

Application and techniques / By Team ROMFIX

Roads literally lie in water

In the picturesque village of Zunderdorp, in Amsterdam’s Landelijk Noord area, roads literally lie in water, especially after prolonged rain. The landscape consists mainly of peat (Land subsidence in the peat landscape | Laag Holland) whose humus-rich material must be kept under water as much as possible to prevent exposure to oxygen in the air.

When oxygen can react with the peat, oxidation causes immediate land subsidence. Peat oxidation also produces greenhouse gases (CO₂) and should be limited as much as possible. This is why groundwater levels in the area are kept high.

Van Gelder has a framework contract with the City of Amsterdam to maintain roads in Landelijk Noord, including Poppendammergouw, a rural road running through the peat landscape.

The challenge: building roads on peat

There are essentially two ways to build a road with adequate load-bearing capacity:

Find a load-bearing soil layer, such as sand, gravel or rock, and build the foundation on it by excavating and filling, or by installing piles.
Use a “floating” structure that does not settle under traffic loads.
Floating road structures use materials lighter than the surrounding ground, such as EPS, expanded clay or volcanic material.

Innovation: certified foamed glass

ROMFIX offers an innovative, newly developed lightweight foamed glass fill material that meets government approval requirements under the Bouwstoffenbesluit.

Confining this lightweight material within ROMFIX’s combinations of geosynthetics improves its properties by a factor of 10, known as the Support Improvement Factor (SIF). Compared with closed-cell plastics such as EPS, foamed glass offers environmental benefits as a 100% glass/sand product and a low density of 200–250 kg/m³. Its buoyancy also adjusts to changing water levels.

The voids in the foamed glass granules fill with water when submerged. This reduces buoyancy and prevents the road from being pushed upwards.

Cooperation between Van Gelder Groep, ROMFIX and the City of Amsterdam

While seeking sustainable solutions for this water-rich area, Van Gelder and ROMFIX quickly agreed to put the system to the test. The City of Amsterdam, which also continually seeks innovation, joined the project as the client.

Through close cooperation, the three parties built a stable “floating” road, marking an important breakthrough for road construction on weak ground.

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