Another day of icy roads and traffic jams; Already 535 km of congestion on Dutch roads
The winter weather was again expected to cause traffic jams in the Netherlands on Tuesday. The KNMI has a code yellow warning in effect for the entire country, urging motorists to be wary of icy roads. Traffic was already building on Dutch roadways by 8:15 a.m., with about 535 kilometers of vehicle traffic, according to the motorist association ANWB.
Infrastructure agency Rijkswaterstaat warned that the winter weather, combined with the normally heavy Tuesday morning traffic, would create a difficult situation during the first rush hour period. “Across the country, areas will be slippery due to frost and snow. Dense fog will occur inland,” the ANWB warned.
Major delays were reported on the A12 between Gouda and Utrecht. A truck jackknifed near De Meern, resulting in Rijkswaterstaat closing several lanes. Traffic quickly piled up. The infrastructure agency reported a delay of over two hours, with no indication of traffic easing any time soon.
The truck needs to be removed, but because the work zone where the emergency services are working has become extremely slippery, it must first be cleared of ice. Rijkswaterstaat expects the situation to be resolved by around 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday.
The icy roads also mean that many bus services aren’t operating on Tuesday. No buses at all are running in the provinces of Utrecht and Flevoland. In Rotterdam, Hoeksche Waard, Goeree-Overflakkee, and Almere, no buses are running until at least after the morning rush hour.
Buses are heavy machinery and difficult to operate in icy conditions. “We cannot guarantee the safety of our staff, our passengers, our equipment, or other road users,” a spokesperson for the transport company EBS told Omroep Flevoland about its decision to cancel its bus services on Tuesday morning.
The busy roads and canceled buses, combined with no NS trains until at least 10:00 a.m., mean that people in the Netherlands have few options for getting around on this wintry day. “No train, no plane, nothing,” one tourist told NOS radio. “We were supposed to work today, and pick up the pets. We don’t have the baggage, we don’t have anything, not even a toothbrush.”
The gritting crews remained busy for another consecutive overnight period, dumping nearly 4.8 million kilograms of salt on Dutch highways in the 12-hour period beginning at 7 a.m. The fleet of salt trucks drove across 56,000 kilometers of roads during the overnight period, Rijkswaterstaat said.
Less snowfall is expected on Tuesday than in recent days. Most of the wintry showers will move across the west and north of the country, often falling in the form of rain. These showers will make the roads and sidewalks extremely slippery. Maximums will rise to between 0 and 4 degrees Celsius with a light to strong wind from the west or southwest.
More snow is expected on Wednesday. The meteorological institute KNMI expects to have its icy roads warning in place until at least midday Thursday.
