Slight decrease in traffic jams on Dutch roads; Temporary, ANWB expects

Traffic jams on Dutch highways and provincial roads decreased by 2 percent in the first half of 2024 compared to the same period last year, the ANWB reported based on its most recent traffic congestion figures for all A and N roads in the Netherlands. The travelers’ organization attributes the decrease to work-from-home and people traveling outside rush hour. The ANWB also expects that traffic jams caused by road works will soon cancel out that effect, the Telegraaf reports.

“We find the slight decrease in traffic congestion remarkable given the significant growth of the vehicle fleed and the increase in the number of kilometers driven on our road network,” Arnoud Broekhuis of the ANWB told the newspaper.

“Working from home more and driving outside rush hour undoubtedly has a dampening effect on traffic jams during rush hours, and we see this directly in the figures,” Broekhuis said. Traffic jam severity decreased slightly during morning rush hour (-2 percent), but increased by 5 percent during the day and remained the same during evening rush hour.

The ANWB does not think the slight decrease in traffic jam severity - the kilometers of the traffic jam multiplied by the number of minutes the jam exists - is the start of a new trend. “We now see enormous traffic jams in many places in our country due to road works,” Broekhuis said.

The public works department Rijkswaterstaat schedules its most intense road work for the summer period when many people are on holiday, and there is less traffic on the road. However, due to staff shortages and time restraints, not all work can be done in the off-season, so road works have still caused considerable disruptions and delays in the first half of the year.

“The major works on the A7 near Purmerend and A12 between Woerden and Utrecht, among others, caused considerable delays,” Broekhuis told the newspaper. “A lot of work is carried out during the weekends with numerous road closures. Despite the lower traffic intensity, these have still led to considerable disruption in the past six months. The traffic jam severity during the weekend increased by no less than 50 percent in the past six months.”

Currently, roadworks on the A10 in Amsterdam are causing major problems. “That has enormous consequences for the Amsterdam region, with a huge amount of delays,” Broekhuis said. Because the traffic intensity on that route is 76,000 vehicles per day, they now have to drive around on roads that are almost at their maximum.”

The Rijkswaterstaat is also working on the A4 toward Rotterdam, between the Zoomland and Sabina junctions, and the A29 between Rotterdam and Bergen op Zoom in both directions at the Heinenoord tunnel. These are both very busy routes.