Tunnel part of large traffic realignment project

HOOFDDORP – A traffic realignment project will relocate the extremely busy N201 artery away from the towns of Aalsmeer and Uithoorn. Part of the project is a one kilometer long tunnel underneath the Ringvaart – the canal around the Haarlemmermeerpolder, which is nearing completion. The tunnel has been assigned the name Waterwolf, a reference to earlier times when the polder, reclaimed in the nineteenth century, consisted of three lakes, the Spieringmeer in the north, the (old) Haarlemmermeer in the centre and the Leidsemeer in the south. Violent storms eroded the area around the lakes until the three had totally merged into one dangerous entity, locally called the Waterwolf, the legendary animal that devours everything in sight. Following a naming contest, the tunnel was officially named the Waterwolftunnel.