Hovenring – The Floating Circular Cycle Bridge

You might not be heard of that; there is a special bridge made for pedestrians and cyclists in the Dutch city of Eindhoven. The Hovenring cable-stayed Floating Circular Cycle Bridge diameter is 72 meters and is suspended from a 70-meter pylon situated at the center of the roundabout by 24 cables and seems to float over a big novel junction for motorized traffic.

The bridge is, with thin decks and conspicuous lighting, a purely amazing landmark in the city. When at night, the slender bike ring is lit from below to further enhance that floating effect, similar to a flying saucer. The steel bridge hovers over the Heerbaan-Meerenakkerweg intersection. The bridge is an impressive pylon marking the entranceway to the cities of Eindhoven and Veldhoven. There is a level crossing which is a local housing estate inquiring about changing in order to cope with the growing traffic.

As Eindhoven City Council refrains from cyclist underpasses and didn’t want a level crossing roundabout either, they asked Dutch bridge specialist IPV Delft to consider possible solutions. A circular cable-stayed bridge soon appeared to be the right option.

Constructing the circle bridge proved to be more difficult than expected, because Hovenring Floating Circular Cycle Bridge was opened to the public in Dec 2011 but closed due to suspension cables vibrating too much, and it has to be closed from a safety point of view. After some adjustment, it was finally opened to the public on June 29, 2012.