Traffic jams on Dutch roads have returned in full force this year

Traffic jams on Dutch roads have returned "in full force" this year. This was reported by ANWB Traffic Information based on traffic jam figures for the first quarter of this year. According to the traffic service, we are also more often at a standstill than before the pandemic. Compared to the first quarter of 2019, traffic jams increased by 10 percent.

"This has something to do with the fact that we are all slowly returning to the office, but at the same time we also see that working from home is still happening," explained Arnoud Broekhuis of the ANWB. He also said the fleet has grown by 470,000 cars since 2019, "which is literally leaving its mark on the road.”

According to Statistics Netherlands, there are now around 8.9 million passenger cars in the Netherlands, Broekhuis claimed. "If you add truck traffic, it's clear that this has an impact on traffic flow. Especially when we are on the roads at the same time."

In Noord-Holland, traffic jam density increased by 20 percent in the past three months compared to 2019. Zuid-Holland and Noord-Brabant remained the busiest provinces. Traffic jam density is the number of kilometers times the number of minutes of traffic jams. Furthermore, snow and rain on Tuesday mornings, March 7 and 14, caused rush hours with record lengths of traffic jams of 1093 kilometers and 1102 kilometers.

Generally, Tuesday and Thursday continue to be the busiest days on the roads. Combined with bad weather, Tuesday morning rush hour traffic increased by nearly 50 percent in the first quarter and Thursday by more than 20 percent. Monday and Friday mornings however, were a bit quieter than before.

According to Broekhuis, there is nothing indicating that the road will become less busy. "Even during the day, sometimes there are already queues," he said.