No trains, no cars: Avoid the Amsterdam Zuidas from Thursday night to Monday morning

Amsterdam residents and other people traveling through the city are advised to avoid the Amsterdam Zuidas from Thursday night through Monday morning. The installation of a massive rooftop for the new passenger tunnel from Amsterdam Zuid station across the A10 South and the railway means that car and truck access will be severely limited during the 79-hour period, with no trains running at the area's train stations on Friday and Saturday.

The situation is expected to be so messy that the city is openly asking people to arrange to work from home, take the day off altogether, or cancel their plans if it involves the Zuidas neighborhood.

Parts of the A10 and A4 highways will be closed from 10:00 p.m. on Thursday through to 5:00 a.m. on Monday. This is expected to cause major traffic problems, especially on Friday. The normal traffic volume there during Friday morning rush hour is around 10 thousand cars per hour, and the A5 and A9 diversion routes do not have enough capacity to cope with this amount of traffic. "People who commute by car are therefore urgently advised to work from home or elsewhere and to leave the alternative routes as free as possible for those for whom car travel is absolutely essential", the city said.

Coming from the A10 West, the A10 South will be closed off from De Nieuwe Meer junction in the direction of the A2 and A10 East. Coming from the A4/Schiphol the A4 and A10 South will be closed off from the Badhoevedorp junction onwards.

No train traffic at all will be possible to, through, and from Amsterdam Zuid and Amsterdam RAI stations on Friday and Saturday. On Sunday, limited rail traffic should be possible to those stations, and train traffic should return to normal on Monday. Passengers will be diverted via Amsterdam Central, and can then travel to Zuid and RAI stations using the subway.

These closures are necessary because the tracks and roadway have to be removed - and later put back - for the massive roof section of the station passageway to be installed.

The city calls on people to avoid Zuidas as much as possible during this period. Work from home or take the day off altogether, the city suggested. If this is impossible, travel by bicycle as much as possible, and if you absolutely must use a car leave it at a P+R lot before switching to public transportation. The city advised commuters to stay up to date with live traffic updates via NS and OV9292, as well as Google Maps and Waze.