This special bridge requires some historical explanation:
Originally, the anti-tank ditch was to be a dry ditch, but because it filled up with water, it was forced to be converted into a wet ditch. For military reasons, such bridges were installed at various locations. These ‘light engineering bridges’ over the Anti-tank Ditch were limited to vehicles of a maximum of five tons. During the war, these light engineering bridges were demolished and after the war were usually replaced by an earthen dam. Even though the bridges themselves have disappeared, concrete traffic posts that were placed in front of the bridges and remnants of the old railings are still relics of them. The anti-tank ditch also crosses a number of larger roads (Turnhoutsebaan, Bredabaan, etc.), which were closed off during the war by means of mobile roadblock elements made of profile steel, called Cointet elements.
A Cointet element, also known as a Belgian gate or C-element, was a heavy steel fence of approximately 3 meters wide and 2 meters high, mounted on rollers. It was named after the French colonel Léon Edmond de Cointet who invented it.
Fortunately, these earth bridges have been given a recreational character after the last world war.