Skip to main content

Netherlands reduces road congestion by 30% in Q1 2012

According to Dutch automotive association and tourism group ANWB, there was an estimated 30 per cent year-on-year decrease in the number of traffic jams in the Netherlands in the first quarter of 2012. This comes as the Rijkswaterstaat, the Dutch department for infrastructure maintenance, invested more in the construction of new motorway lanes in recent years. The A2 motorway between Amsterdam and Utrecht has been expanded to ten lanes, and this reduced congestion by 25 per cent alone in 2011. In the short
April 4, 2012 Read time: 1 min
According to Dutch automotive association and tourism group 481 ANWB, there was an estimated 30 per cent year-on-year decrease in the number of traffic jams in the Netherlands in the first quarter of 2012. This comes as the 4767 Rijkswaterstaat, the Dutch department for infrastructure maintenance, invested more in the construction of new motorway lanes in recent years.

The A2 motorway between Amsterdam and Utrecht has been expanded to ten lanes, and this reduced congestion by 25 per cent alone in 2011. In the short term, the road widening will lead to less congestion. However, in the long term this is expected to change as people adjust to the new travel times. Moreover, people will also opt to live further away from where they work, meaning congestion will inevitably increase once again.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Growth of ITS market 2013 to 2019
    April 22, 2014
    According to the latest report from Transparency Market Research, the intelligent transportation systems (ITS) market is expected to reach a value of US$30.2 billion by 2019, at a CAGR of 11.1 per cent from 2013 to 2019. The demand of ITS systems is rising globally due to increased congestion in metropolitan areas. Development and deployment of intelligent transportation system not only reduces traffic, but also reduces number of accidents and improves quality of life by controlling vehicle emission leve
  • Cost benefit: Toronto retimings tame traffic trauma
    July 11, 2018
    Canada’s largest city reckons that it is saving its taxpayers’ money simply by altering the way traffic lights work. David Crawford reviews Toronto’s ambitious plans to ease congestion. Toronto, Canada’s largest metropolis (and the fourth largest in North America), has saved its residents CAN$53 (US$42.4) for every CAN$1 (US$0.80) spent over a 2012-2016 traffic signal retiming programme, according to figures released by its Transportation Services Division. The programme covered 1,275 signals (the city’s to
  • Building the case for photo enforcement
    October 26, 2016
    As red light enforcement is returning to some intersections and being shut down at others, new evidence has been released backing the safety campaigners, reports Jon Masters. In 2014, 709 Americans were killed in red-light-running crashes and an estimated 126,000 were injured according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).
  • New technology revolution in urban traffic control?
    January 26, 2012
    Urban traffic control is a well-defined and practised art. Nevertheless, there are technologies here and on the horizon with the potential to revolutionise how we do things. By Gavin Jackman and Andrew Kirkham, TRL, and Jason Barnes. Distributed monitoring and control of urban traffic networks and flows is nothing new. PC-based Urban Traffic Control (UTC) is now well established and operating in many locations around the world. However, it is worth considering the effects of the huge growth in the use of sm