Weeks of traffic chaos around Amsterdam, Utrecht as highways close for maintenance
Road users who can avoid Amsterdam and Utrecht in the coming weeks are advised to do so. The A1 from the Amsterdam ring road A10 toward the east of the country and the A12 between Veenendaal and Utrecht are both closing for roadworks and will almost certainly cause traffic chaos, RTL Nieuws reports.
Anyone wanting to travel from the east of the Netherlands to Amsterdam can expect bumper-to-bumper traffic in the coming weeks. The A1 will be closed from the Diemen Junction to the Watergraafsmeer junction for weeks. The A12 is also closed earlier on the route, from Arnhem to Utrecht.
And a 30-kilometer stretch of the A2 from Veenendaal to Utrecht will be closed for nine days. Detouring will easily cost an extra hour of travel time, according to RTL Nieuws.
Rijkswaterstaat, the department responsible for road maintenance, understands that motorists will be frustrated. “A lot of maintenance is needed. There are really bad parts of the asphalt, and you don’t want a motorway to have to close unexpectedly without warning. Then you have bigger problems to deal with,” Niels van den Brink of the Rijkswaterstaat told RTL.
The public works department tries to carry out roadworks over weekends and at night as much as it can, but that is not always possible. “There are too few weekends in the year to carry out all the necessary work. So much has to be done, and this is more efficient,” Van den Brink said.
The following highways will be closed for roadworks in the coming weeks
- A1 between Watergraafsmeer and Diemen junctions, traveling from Amsterdam to Amersfoort. Closed Friday, May 9, from 10:00 p.m. to Monday, May 26, at 5:00 a.m.
- A12 between Lunetten and Maanderbroek junctions, in both directions between Utrecht and Veenendaal. Closed from Friday, May 9, at 8:00 p.m. to Monday, May 19, at 5:00 a.m.
- A27 between Everdingen and Lunetten junctions, traveling from Vianen to Utrecht. Closed from Friday, May 9, at 10:00 p.m. to Monday, May 12, at 5:00 a.m.
- A58 between De Baars and Tilburg-Reeshof junctions, traveling from Eindhoven to Breda. Closed from Friday, May 9, at 9:00 p.m. to Monday, May 19, at 5:00 a.m.
- A67 between Leenderheide and Zaarderheiken junctions, traveling from Geldrop to the German border. Closed from Friday, May 9, at 9:00 p.m. to Monday, May 1,2 at 5:00 a.m., and then again from Friday, May 16, at 9:00 p.m. to Monday, May 19, at 5:00 a.m.
- A2 between Maarssen and Oudenrijn junctions, traveling from Utrecht to Den Bosch. Closed from Friday, May 16, at 8:00 p.m. to Monday, May 19, at 6:00 a.m., and then again on the following weekend at the same times.
