Some 30 years after the opening of the Eastern Scheldt barrier, we are starting the renovation of the last 32 of a total of 62 slides. The sliders will be completely grit-blasted and recoated. At the same time, we are also repairing the defects in the preservation of the remaining 30 slides. This huge job will take as many as eight years. During that time, the dam must continue to operate at all times.
A race against the storm
A lot of hard work is being done to recoat the 4 gates of the Eastern Scheldt storm surge barrier, which are scheduled to be resurfaced this year. 2 gates are now completely finished and before October 1, the other 2 gates, performed by GSB and Van der Ende, will also be ready. That is when the storm season starts and all gates must be ready to turn back the high water.