Nothing can stop Jeff Bezos from getting his new $485 million superyacht—not even a historic 144-year-old bridge, apparently.
The Netherlands’ iconic Koningshaven Bridge, which is located in the port city of Rotterdam, will be partially dismantled in order to get an epic 417-footer that was reportedly built for Bezos out and onto the high seas, as reported by the AFP news agency.
Unsurprisingly, the Amazon founder, who is currently the world’s second-richest person with a net worth of $176 billion, has copped quite a bit of backlash for what we’ll now refer to as Bridgegate.
For context, Koningshaven Bridge, which dates back to 1878, has been through a Nazi bombing and is now a national monument. It also recently went through a major renovation that saw it out of action from 2014 to 2017. At the time, officials said it would not be dismantled again.
The mayor’s office did emphasize that there were a number of economic benefits from the vessel’s build, specifically the number of jobs created. He also promised that the bridge would be rebuilt in its current form. With any luck Bridgegate won’t last long, but the process won’t happen overnight. In fact, it’s slated to take few weeks for the megayacht to pass the finally pass the bridge, and it will be carried out this summer.
