Why enforce a ban on steel, a material which simply gives a much greater freedom of shape than concrete?
It costs more, the minister concludes - and that's correct. Steel needs more maintenance than concrete. Beauty has its price. But let’s not exaggerate. If you consider the extra costs in relation to the total costs of a motorway, we are dealing with several tens of millions of euros for a depreciation period of 30 years. The reason for the minister's decision was the partial closure of the steel Merwedebrug; an absolute disaster for freight traffic. Apparently, the idea: it’s steel's fault, so we do not want that anymore, prevails. The facts, however, are different. During the maintenance management, matters were left to their own devices and it was known that the bridge was supporting much more load than for which it was designed. But, this was overseen, and nothing was done about it. Which has ultimately resulted in an overreaction.