Room must be created along the major rivers in the Netherlands so that the design discharge can flow to the sea without the need for increasing the corresponding design high water levels. Within the scope of the Room for the River (RvR) project, sufficient room must be found to allow for the increase in discharge in the Rhine previously established by the minister at 16,000 m3 /sec at Lobith (the Maas discharge was raised from 3650 to 3800 m3/sec at Borgharen).

One of the bottlenecks is located near Arnhem – the upper reaches of the Neder-Rijn between the higher-lying industrial area known as Kleefsche Waard and the dike near the Malburgen district of the city, where the river narrows to only about 350 metres. Opportunities for relocating the dike opened up when plans fell through to develop the Bakenhof industrial park on the site of a former brickyard in the Malburgen district. In collaboration between the Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management (Rijkswaterstaat), the Municipality of Arnhem, the Betuwe Polder District and the Municipality of Huissen, Grontmij, working with Royal Haskoning, developed a plan to relocate 200m of the southern part of the dike. In the flood plain created as a result, a side channel was designed and a hiking path cleared around the perimeter of the nature reserve. Finally, portions of the flood plain were lowered by removing the top layer of the forelands. Thanks to these measures, a connection in the National Ecological Network was created between the Huissensche Waarden and the crest level to be built.

Grontmij, Royal Haskoning, Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management
Municipality of Arnhem, Betuwe Polder District, Municipality of Huissen