Pieter Smitbrug

[1][2][3][4] The bridge deck is made of 350 cubic meters of FSC-certified Lophira alata wood from Gabon, Africa, supplied by Wijma Kampen B.V.

[5][6][7] The 2004 Blauwestad project [nl] was created to revive the Oldambt area of East Groningen, which had been declining in population and economically poor since the 1980s.

Residents began to arrive in small numbers in 2006, and changes in the global markets caused redesigns in 2010 and 2013.

Beginning in 2015, asylum seekers began to populate the area as part of the European migrant crisis, setting 125 homes.

[9][7] The bridge was named De Blauwe Loper in Dutch (The Blue Carpet) during construction.