The director of a cemetery in the Amsterdam suburb of Buitenveldert has submitted plans to the city council which involve building graves into a noise barrier along the A10 ring road.

Dozens of graves could be built into a 700-metre stretch of the wall, which is set to be constructed in 2016, Anja Vink told the Telegraaf.

Cemetery officials first considered making the area a place where friends and family could keep the urns and scatter the ashes of their loved ones, but then developed the idea of ‘above the ground’ burial, the paper says.

‘The noise barrier … will be covered with flowers and grass. The coffins will be placed in a concrete gallery grave in the wall with room for a memorial plaque at the front,’ Vink said. The aim is not to recreate the long walls of vaults seen in cemeteries in many foreign countries but a green place where people can sit, she said.

‘People want something exclusive,’ Vink said. ‘The wall would also be suitable for people who don’t like the idea of being put underground when they die.’

If the council approves the plan, work will begin late next year.