Traffic accidents cause busiest evening rush hour of the year

Multiple accidents caused extreme amounts of traffic on Dutch roads during rush hour on Thursday evening. There was a total of 478 kilometers of traffic jams on the Dutch highways, making Thursday evening the busiest rush hour in the Netherlands so far this year, according to Rijkswaterstaat.

According to the ANWB, which also takes provincial roads into account, there was 887 kilometers of traffic jams on Dutch roads on Thursday evening. According to the ANWB's figures, Thursday evening was the third busiest rush hour this year.

Traffic was especially bad on the A27 highway, NOS report. An accident involving several trucks just as rush hour started, resulted in the highway closing in both directions at Merwedebrug. 

At the same time the A6 highway was closed in both directions at the Ketelbrug. A technical defect meant that the bridge's booms could not open for nearly an hour. 

The A59 towards Oss, the A16 towards Rotterdam, and the A50 towards Appeldoorn were also closed due to accidents. 

Het is kneiter druk op de snelwegen. Met 478 kilometer file totaal is dit dé drukste spits van dit jaar tot nu toe. Volg hier onze liveblog ➡ https://t.co/ndamAM8g27. pic.twitter.com/hyK8uMCjOc

— Rijkswaterstaat Verkeersinformatie (@RWSverkeersinfo) October 11, 2018