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700Ad de Regt, Arjen van der Burg: Randstad Holland: The Delta Metropolisuse of other funding mechanisms. Therequirement for internal water collectionalways applies to urban expansions.New polder pools, lakes and ponds are to becreated between the cities, thus linkingexisting parks, recreational areas, natureareas and agricultural areas with eachother. In connection with that, residentialenvironments on the water – now in greatdemand – can be created. Motorways,railways, and channels now often posedifficult obstacles discouraging recreationin the form of short trips from home(without a car). Investments are needed forviaducts, tunnels, ecoducts and aqueductsand the restructuring of routes through thelandscape.The coastal region is a fairly contiguous,publicly accessible area with nature,recreation possibilities and an expansiveview. Between Hoek van Holland andScheveningen, the row of dunes is verynarrow. In combination with the creation ofthe Tweede Maasvlakte Industrial Area andan extension of the harbour peer, thechoice here is for dune expansion towardsthe sea with a highly natural character thatlends itself well to expansion of therecreational possibilities (for day-trippers).In the South Wing, there is a great demandfor this. In the Bulb Region, on the otherhand, dune expansion is sought in aninland direction, in combination with thecreation of a varied residential area andexpansion of water storage. Given theMap 3The structure of the Delta MetropolisUrban ringOpen zonesGreen corridorsSource: Rijksplanologische Diensthollow profile of the coast line, duneexpansions from Scheveningen to Pettenmust move inland. All these developmentsfit with dynamic coast management inwhich increasing safety comes first, but incombination with high-quality use.The city ring is intersected by severalecological main connections that link theGreen Heart with green / blue spacesoutside the Delta Metropolis. The mostimportant ecological connection runs fromthe Wadden Sea, via the IJsselmeer Lakeand the Green Heart, to the South Holland-Zealand Delta: the “Wet Axis” (Natte As). Inorder not to disrupt this ecologicalrelationship, four open zones are to be keptfree of urbanization in the Randstad Regionring.The infrastructure networkIn order to function as one urban whole, theDelta Metropolis has to have a goodinfrastructure network. This connects thedifferent parts of the Delta Metropolisquickly, safely and comfortably with eachother and other parts of our country.Excellent overland connections are alsoneeded with nearby metropolises, i.e. theFlemish Diamond Area, the Rhine / RuhrArea and Frankfurt and – a little fartheraway – Paris, London, Hamburg and Berlin.Particularly for business transport, it isimportant that one can travel back andforth in one day (a maximum of 3 hours oftravel time between region peripheries).Public transport must be competitive withair and car travel when it comes to thesedistances. High-speed rail links arerequired, particularly to the three closestmetropolises and to Paris and London. TheHSL South Line is now under construction.As for the HSL East Line, it is being studiedwhether the same goal can be achieved bymodifying the existing rail for higherspeeds. In addition, good accessibility by(freight) lorry is required. The DeltaMetropolis has sufficient motorwayconnections, but the utilization, capacityand traffic flows require improvement.In order to adequately transport largegoods flows from the Rotterdam Port, theBetuwe Line is under construction. Inthe long term, the connection betweenRotterdam (Kijfhoek) and Antwerp must beimproved. There are adequate inlandwaterways of the highest quality, i.e. theAmsterdam-Rhine Canal, the Waal Riverand the Schelde-Rhine Canal.