[NL] Roads and Motorways in the Netherlands • Autosnelwegen

[carfentanyl]

I've been on a lot of freeways all around the world, but I have never ever encountered a freeway with a higher truck density than the A16, the freeway between the seaports of Rotterdam and Antwerp.

Sometimes the right lane is just a pepetual ongoing parade of trucks without a single car.

[ChrisZwolle]

Originally Posted by keber

Curious. As there are a lot of trucks, does anybody think of introducing toll at least for them (like in Germany)? I'm sure authorities would collect a lot of money to use them for highway improvements.

Trucks are highly important for the Dutch economy. But truck tolls might be an option. But then again, they pay a lot of taxes by fueling in The Netherlands or elsewere.

[CborG]

Some random Highwaypics:

A2 near Nieuwegein, you can see the old Lekbridge and the new one nexrt to each other, untill 1999 all the traffic had to go over that small bridge, the new one is wide enough to carry 5 lanes in each direction. Room for a forth lane in 2010 is visible on the left side:



Old piece of A2:



A2, Very narrow bridge near Beesd, south of Utrecht. This stretch will be widened to 2x4 lanes by 2010:



A12, part of ring Utrecht:



A12, a Dynamic Route Information Panel or DRIP: (correct me if im wrong)



A15, very busy with lots of trucks near Tiel, the betuweline is on the left side.



A15, other direction. Alongside the Betuweline:



Lekbridge A27 on the other side of Nieuwegein:

[ChrisZwolle]

A12, a Dynamic Route Information Panel or DRIP: (correct me if im wrong)

In English, VMS (Variable Message Sign) is more common.

[LtBk]

How many motorways are being widened?

[ChrisZwolle]

Originally Posted by LtBk

How many motorways are being widened?

Not enough. But there is some progress.

The A2 will be a construction site over a significant length.
There are wishes to widen way more motorways, but very few of them are actually done. The majority keeps being postponed.

[mrmojo]

Very interesting. However, I do have to ask that for a country like the netherlands why rail does not take a greater priority - netherlands population density seems to be very well suited for it.

[ChrisZwolle]

Originally Posted by mrmojo

Very interesting. However, I do have to ask that for a country like the netherlands why rail does not take a greater priority - netherlands population density seems to be very well suited for it.

Our rail system is amongst the busiest of Europe.

But the density of the Randstad region is way not high enough to support large U/S-bahn like rail. Now we have lightrail on some places, but that's not gonna work out.

And travelling by rail is very inefficient compared to road travelling.

[LtBk]

Originally Posted by Chris1491

Our rail system is amongst the busiest of Europe.

But the density of the Randstad region is way not high enough to support large U/S-bahn like rail. Now we have lightrail on some places, but that's not gonna work out.

And travelling by rail is very inefficient compared to road travelling.

Why do you think traveling by rail is very inefficient?

[ChrisZwolle]

Originally Posted by LtBk

Why do you think traveling by rail is very inefficient?

Because train links mostly only city-centers, and in The Netherlands, city centers have more a historic purpose rather than a working environment. That takes place at other locations like industrial areas, which are badly connected with mass transit.

From house to work, most PT trips takes over twice the time as with the car, even at relative short distances up to 20 kilometers.

[ChrisZwolle]

For example, i work at the other end of town, which is some 15km away. With the car it takes 20 minutes off-rushhour and 30 - 45 minutes in rush hour. But taking the Public Transport (buses) it would always take 1 hour, and the chance of missing a connection is there because there is only a 2 minute gap between the 2 buses. Therefore, i like to prefer the car, i can leave any time i like, and take any route i like. With the bus, you have to wait at the bus first, which can last 15 - 30 minutes, so you have to add that to the 1 hour trip.

[ChrisZwolle]

For those who are interested:

here you can find pics i took today from the German B54 and the Dutch A/N 35 from Gronau to Zwolle. The N35 is a major artery in the province of Overijssel, but it isn't a motorway yet, in fact, it goes right through towns like Almelo, Zwolle and Nijverdal, these pics were taken today, sunday, but the road jams up badly on working days.

However, they are building a short connection bypass near Almelo, so that's one obstacle less on the route from Western Overijssel to the Twente region.

[DannyH]

Originally Posted by Chris1491

There are around 16 million inhabitants, and 7 million cars in this country.(..)

Actually, there are over 8 million cars (don't know if trucks are included though, I guess not), on almost 16.5 million inhabitants.
Way too much!

[ChrisZwolle]

Originally Posted by DannyH

Way too much!

How should people travel otherwise?

[LtBk]

Originally Posted by Chris1491

How should people travel otherwise?

By using mass transit? Using mass transit has its own advantages, and you can't force everybody to drive like in the US.

[ChrisZwolle]

Mass transit is very inefficient compared to a car. I used to travel a lot to the north of the country, which is some 75 miles away from where i live. With the car, that takes just over an hour, but over 2,5 hours with mass transit.

And mass transit is overcrowded already during rush hours.

[Rebasepoiss]

Originally Posted by Chris1491

Mass transit is very inefficient compared to a car. I used to travel a lot to the north of the country, which is some 75 miles away from where i live. With the car, that takes just over an hour, but over 2,5 hours with mass transit.

And mass transit is overcrowded already during rush hours.

Then perhaps the government should support public transport more...

[ChrisZwolle]

Originally Posted by Rebasepoiss

Then perhaps the government should support public transport more...

They do it already. However the PT is used ten times less, it get's already 3 to 4 times more funding.

The problem is, that work is very concentrated in some areas, with urban sleep cities at some 10 - 30km distance, and all that traffic has to travel over a road that has the same width as back in the seventies, but a ten times higher traffic volume than then. That gives problems.

During rushhours, most of the central and western part and around larger cities is completely jammed. The road between The Hague/Rotterdam and Amsterdam is still 2x2 lanes in some places, and 2x5 in other stretches. That gives huge bottlenecks. And the road between The Hague and Utrecht and between Rotterdam and Utrecht is also still 2x2 lanes.

They are converting the 2x3 A2 between Utrecht and Amsterdam to a 2x5 highway, which is badly needed, since traffic jams become longer and longer, with daily distances between 20 and 30km of backup.
In Rushhours, the A2 is almost completely jammed between Den Bosch and Amsterdam.

[ChrisZwolle]

Oh, and not unimportant, there are almost no alternatives for the motorway. So all local and regional have to use the motorway too. That gives high volumes in rural areas too.

[Joshapd]

Yes and one of the problems of PT is that it, busses at least, mostly also use the congested roads in the city, but also outside it. So mostly taking a bike is the quickest way when you don't need to go really far.