Holland is very poor in land resources. Hence its development has been directed towards intensive industrialization and maximum agricultural exploitation. The western part of the country is below sea level and is occupied by 65 percent of the population. Originally the coast consisted of a number of islands, estuaries and slight elevations. Man has transformed this coastline, first making a number of artificial lakes, or polders, and then converting these into fertile districts. These projects protect the soil by means of dykes, which require careful conservation, but even so violent floods are not infrequent. One of the difficult problems involved in this vast enterprise is the complex system of water supply, lines of communication and flow of the rivers into the sea along the estuary zone. This zone is on the south west, and to protect it a National Commission has been set up. After careful study, it was decided that the best defense against the violence of the sea would consist in closing off the inroads of the sea into the continental coastline. The set of hydraulic projects which constitutes this plan for the improvement of the sea defences will take 25 years to fulfil. The general project is highly ambitious and includes both maritime, road and structural works, in which there is a variety of stonework constructions. This paper describes, in brief outline, the main contents of the 11 headings into which the general construction project has been subdivided. In addition, this is supplemented with information on the projects which are already initiated and on the constructional procedure that is being adopted. Of these latter projects, the Nabla bridge is of particular interest. It is situated on the delta. It is made in prestressed concrete, and consists of 17 spans, of 60 length each. This enormous structure, in addition to its great length, and supporting a 22.8 ms wide roadway, is subjected to the tremendous forces 11» of the sea on one side, and to the thrust of the Haringvliet estuary current on the ...