Opening Second Coentunnel

After years of deliberation and three and a half years of construction, the second Coentunnel and the new West Ring (Westrandweg), will finally be opened for traffic on Monday morning. Starting 5.00 am, motorists can drive through the brand new tunnel. On Thursday, Minister Melanie Schulz (Infrastructure and Traffic) will open the second Coentunnel and the West Ring. The second Coentunnel and the Westrandweg are necessary for a better flow of the traffic in the Randstad. Amsterdam has to be better reachable from the northern part of Noord Holland and the traffic on the Ring (A10) must be reduced. Because Department of Public Works is going to renovate the old Coentunnel, the traffic problems around Amsterdam will only be solved by next year. The old Coentunnel will be closed until 2014, so cars can only pas through the new, second Coentunnel. “The pressure on the A10 will not decrease this year, we will have to accept this just a little longer,” says a spokesman of the Department of Public Works