Penis statue appears at minister's highway presentation

Minister Melanie Schultz van Haegen visited Steenbergen on Thursday to officially open the A4 highway and hand the N259 over to the municipality. She was greeted by the giant penis statue, made by wood artist Peter de Koning, and placed in a strategic place so that the minister was sure to see it. The A4 has been in use since November last year. From then residents have been complaining about the noise. They hope that the statue will draw the Infrastructure Minister's attention to their complaints. During the official proceedings, the protesters also presented Schultz with a smaller wooden penis, Omroep Brabant reports. She accepted it happily enough. It is unlikely that this unusual protest will have the effect the protesters hoped for. Schultz recently stated that many measures have been taken and that she sees no further options, BN DeStem reports. Now that the A4 is open, motorists no longer have to use the local roads. According to the Rijkswaterstaat, that saves time and improves road safety.

Een warm welkom zometeen voor minister Schultz van Haegen in #Steenbergen. Steenbergenaren voelen zich 'de lul' #hvnl pic.twitter.com/za6SI0Hrq9

— Maike Senders (@MaikeHVNL) July 9, 2015

En ja hoor, ze is zo sportief geweest om 'm aan te nemen. Hij gaat in de achterbak mee en krijgt 'n mooi plekje #hvnl pic.twitter.com/c54r6ndmFF

— Maike Senders (@MaikeHVNL) July 9, 2015