The Hollands Diep is a wide river in the Netherlands, the mouth of the Rhine and the Meuse. It is connected to the Scheldt and Antwerp by the Scheldt-Rhine Canal.
The Bergse Maas and the Nieuwe Merwede join at Lage Zwaluwe to form the Hollands Diep. The Dordtsche Kil joins it at Moerdijk. At Numansdorp it divides into the Haringvliet and the Volkerak. The river has a total length of 21 km. It has the Moerdijk bridges.
History
The Hollands Diep was formed as a result of a major flood in 1216, which breached the dunes of the Voorne and created a deep saltwater inlet (today’s Haringvliet). In the second flood, the St. Elisabeth flood, this bay joined the Merwede and became an important estuary of the Rhine and Meuse. Since then, the freshwater part of the estuary (east of Hellegatsplein) has been renamed Hollands Diep. The former river Striene, which connected the Meuse with the Scheldt, was completely destroyed by these floods and can no longer be recognised on maps. The lower part of the Rhine, Meuse and Scheldt delta of the Hollands Diep near Dordrecht and Tilburg
River crossings
At this point, where the river divides, there is a road junction on an artificial island (Hellegatsplein) which connects to the Hoeksche Waard island to the north by the Haringvliet bridge, to the west by the Hellegatsdam bridge to the Goeree-Overflakkee island and to the south-east by the Volkerak locks.
On the eastern side of the river, Moerdijk bridges connect the island of Dordrecht in the north with the mainland in the south: a road bridge, a railway bridge; a second railway bridge for HSL-Zuid has recently been built.
