[NL] Roads and Motorways in the Netherlands • Autosnelwegen

[ChrisZwolle]

There are currently 3 lanes on A28 until the eastern merge of De Uithof interchange (so basically only 1 km). The third lane is finished all the way up to Amersfoort though. I will post some photos of that later.

[keokiracer]

So the third lane starts at Den Dolder going westbound? Any particular reason for the eastbound direction not being 3 lanes yet until Den Dolder?

[ChrisZwolle]

Procedures probably, the westbound direction was an existing shoulder running facility, hence three lanes were already in use (in practice most of the day). The final record of decision of this project has not been taken yet, all works done until now is "renovation". A28 became much more quiet by the way, now the concrete slabs have been replaced by porous asphalt.

[ChrisZwolle]

Some photos of A28 near Soesterberg. If we're unlucky, the third lane will not open until mid-2013.

image hosted on flickr

A28 Soesterberg 30-06-2012-1 by Chriszwolle, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

A28 Soesterberg 30-06-2012-2 by Chriszwolle, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

A28 Soesterberg 30-06-2012-3 by Chriszwolle, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

A28 Soesterberg 30-06-2012-4 by Chriszwolle, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

A28 Soesterberg 30-06-2012-5 by Chriszwolle, on Flickr

[g.spinoza]

Maybe you already wrote that and I missed it, but how come the third lane opening is next year? From the pictures it seems it is almost ready...

[keokiracer]

Originally Posted by ChrisZwolle

Procedures probably, the westbound direction was an existing shoulder running facility, hence three lanes were already in use (in practice most of the day). The final record of decision of this project has not been taken yet, all works done until now is "renovation". A28 became much more quiet by the way, now the concrete slabs have been replaced by porous asphalt.

[g.spinoza]

Sorry about that

[snowdog]

Wow, nice, the Utrecht area is much better then, with the A28, A27, A12 and A2 widenings...

Now just Rotterdam left...

[Road_UK]

Yes, I don't think it will be much of a problem to upgrade the southside of the Rotterdam orbital, but the east, north and westside is all elevated, with built up areas on each side. How would they do it, without plunging the entire city into chaos?

[Coccodrillo]

A2 Maastricht tunnel on TunnelTalk.com: http://tunneltalk.com/Netherlands-Ju...eck-tunnel.php

[ChrisZwolle]

Nice article, not like the ones in the media which are very superficial and full of errors. The A2 Leidsche Rijn Tunnel in Utrecht also has a left shoulder to enhance viewing distances in curves to the left. Some flyovers also have this.

[keokiracer]

The only thing wrong in the entire article is that they call the current road through Maastricht A2 in stead of N2.

In Dutch articles which are roadrelated you can get numerous mistakes in one single article. Especially local newspapers are good at that

[snowdog]

Originally Posted by Road_UK

Yes, I don't think it will be much of a problem to upgrade the southside of the Rotterdam orbital, but the east, north and westside is all elevated, with built up areas on each side. How would they do it, without plunging the entire city into chaos?

Create alternatives. The A16 is fine capacity wise afaik southway, from Tebregge you get 2+2+1 lane merging into 5, then splitting up into 3+2, basically the problem there is caused by bad weaving behavior of motorists at the start and end of the parallel lanes.

North iirc there are little jams except when the A20 is stuck or the parralel lanes near Ridderster.

A20&A13 simply need alternative routes, so finish the A4 and the A16>A13 link asap. Upgrading the A20, especially around kleinpolderplein is not even worth thinking about imho, unless they want to stack a motorway on top of it and make it double deck! A lot of people have nothing to look for there are are going in the direction of the Hague, do you think they would voulintarily drive over the A20&A13 if they had an alternative ?


And of course the A4 Beneluxtunnel is all Wilders's fault, if he didnt declare the Blankenberg tunnel controversial we'd have 1 less thing to worry about.

Rotterdam has all the plans ready to fix 99% of the problems, they are just not hurrying enough doing them...

The only project I miss is the A4 extention near Portugaal to the A29 ...

[julesstoop]

Interesting link, Coccodrillo! Thanks.

[ChrisZwolle]

I made a video of the Utrecht Ring Road. (The motorway parts).

[ChrisZwolle]

The Dutch motorist and tourist association ANWB reports the Top 10 traffic congestion spots as follows:



The former #1 was A4 at Leiderdorp, currently #5 based on the first half of 2012, but will likely fall out of the top 10 if only Q2 2012 is considered because of the widening to 2x3 lanes.

Traffic congestion declined structurally, despite traffic volumes remaining the same or being slightly higher. Traffic congestion is 30% less than it was six years ago.

The current #1 is the southbound A50 where roadworks for a widening to 2x4 lanes obstruct the traffic flow. This spot will likely fall out of the top 10 by mid/late 2013 when the new bridge will open with 2x3 lanes temporary. The existing bridge will be renovated in 2014, after which full 2x4 capacity will be available.

[x-type]

wonderful traffic managment in that video
tell me: i have noticed a lot of totso's and intersections (not exits but intersections) on NL motorways. how hard it is generally for a foreigner to get along with it? for instance, i am lazy driver and i am used not to change main direction each while. would it be hard to me to drive there?

[ChrisZwolle]

The motorway network in central, southern and western Netherlands falls between a metropolitan area like motorway network and a national motorway network. Hence, distances between motorway interchanges are generally short, in many areas not more than 30 kilometers. East-west motorways are often not more than 20 kilometers apart; for instance A1, A12, A15, A59, A58 are all relatively close to eachother.

So one should expect to pay more attention than say driving in France where the next important junction is 100 kilometers away. The Netherlands generally has an east-west / north south grid network, so if you drive diagonally through the country, one should expect TOTSO's. For example if you drive from Germany to Amsterdam, you have to change motorways at Utrecht and maybe again at Amsterdam to get on the beltway.

But the Dutch motorway signage is generally of high standard and it is easy to navigate using cities. Especially now they've introduced the "network cities", which means main cities like Rotterdam, Utrecht and Amsterdam are signposted throughout the country.

[x-type]

Originally Posted by ChrisZwolle

But the Dutch motorway signage is generally of high standard and it is easy to navigate using cities. Especially now they've introduced the "network cities", which means main cities like Rotterdam, Utrecht and Amsterdam are signposted throughout the country.

yep, that "network cities" thing is good because average driver knows for Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Den Haag, Utrecht, Eindhoven, and has heard of Arnhem, Gronningen, Maastricht and Nijmegen, but isn't sure where they are
also there are many destinations signed on NL signs, so main destinations signed everywhere is very welcome.

[ChrisZwolle]

The speed limit was raised today on the following sections, all from 80 to 100 km/h;

* A10 West Amsterdam both directions
* A12 Den Haag outbound
* A13 near Overschie both directions