Ring road Delden – Twickel

The beautiful Twickel estate and the small town of Delden have always been closely connected. Twickel Castle and Delden are both situated on the outskirts of the Deldener Es where the valley meets the Oelerbeek. The Deldener Es is one of the largest and most attractive expanses of arable land in the Netherlands.

In 2003 the landscape architect Michael van Gessel conducted spatial research on the restoration of the relation between Delden and Twickel. The objectives and ambitions of that research are still valid. Six years later the provincial authority of Overijssel, Twente region, Vechtstromen water board, Twickel estate and the local authorities of Borne, Hengelo and Hof van Twente signed the Twickel Pact Declaration of Intent, in which they agreed to devote their efforts to the renewal of the estate and the link between the estate and Delden. They have reserved a joint budget for that purpose, which is used by their steering committee for renewal projects. The Pact has commissioned Michael van Gessel to draw up a master plan for Twickel.

One of the elements in the master plan is the project Delden outskirts. Following the master plan, we have drawn up a design plan for this. The aim of this plan is to reduce the barrier effect of the N346 north of Delden and to strengthen the spatial and landscape cohesion between Delden, Twickel Castle and the Twickel estate. The ring road was constructed in the 1970s, sunk into the Deldener Es with broad verges, gently sloping banks and a lot of vertical vegetation. We increase the slope of the banks to reduce the impact of the road on the land and remove vegetation parallel to the ring road to restore the visual axis between the estate and Delden.

To strengthen that link even further, a second pedestrian bridge was constructed over the ring road at the Markstraat. The details and materials match those of the pedestrian bridge constructed in the Twickelerlaan in 2014 based on a design by Michael van Gessel.