One and a half months of traffic delays due to closure of A73 tunnels in Midden-Limburg

The tunnels of the A73 near Roermond and Swalmen will be closed for major maintenance from Friday at 9 p.m. for a month and a half. The closures will last until August 19 and will be partly complete, partly in one direction. Disruption is unavoidable, but diversions will be provided, Midden Limburg Bereikbaar reports.

Rijkswaterstaat (RWS) is carrying out the second phase of major maintenance in the tunnels during the relatively quiet holiday period. The tunnels were also closed for weeks last year for maintenance and renovation. This work will be completed in the coming month. The tunnels were put into use in 2008, and several safety systems are due for replacement, according to the service.

Drivers are not only informed of diversion routes by yellow signs on roads but also digitally informed, including by so-called 'in car' messages via the most commonly used navigation systems.

Residents of Midden-Limburg are asked to work from home or travel by bike or with a special discount on public transport. A number of company employees have been given e-bikes.

After the complete closure on Friday evening, there will be a few more partial closures and another complete closure in the following weeks. For example, the tunnels in the north will remain closed after the previous closure on July 10, and that closure will last until July 26 at 9 p.m.

Anyone who wants to go south after that must take a detour from July 31 because the tunnel tubes towards Maastricht will be closed until August 19. Starting August 14, both tunnels will be completely closed again. If everything goes according to plan, Rijkswaterstaat hopes to be able to open the tunnels to traffic on August 19 at 6 a.m. The plan may still change, warns RWS.