Amsterdam meeting with road works department after 3 days of traffic chaos

The municipality of Amsterdam is meeting with Diemen and the Rijkswaterstaat to determine how to handle the traffic chaos caused by road works on the A10. Rush hour traffic has been crazy in the Amsterdam region for three days straight.

At 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, there was a 35-kilometer traffic jam on the A10. The A9 was also piled up. The travelers’ organization ANWB advised road users to expect an hour of delay. Traffic jams on Wibaustraat and Weesperstraat added another 15 minutes to the typical travel time.

“It’s almost not strange anymore, but we are jammed again,” an ANWB spokesperson told Parool. Every evening since Monday, traffic only started to subside from around 7:00 p.m.

On Tuesday, the municipality of Diemen complained that the issues on the A10 were causing a lot of detour traffic, which was impacting its public transport.

The municipalities of Amsterdam and Diemen will meet with the Rijkswaterstaat in the coming days to monitor the situation and come up with possible measures, a spokesperson for Amsterdam’s traffic alderman Melanie van der Horst told Parool. The parties already agreed to place digital signs in Diemen to divert traffic via Gooiseweg and lessen the pressure on the municipality. The signs should go up today.

Rijkswaterstaat also expects that the traffic will decrease in the coming days as more people go on holiday and motorists get used to the new situation on the A10. Amsterdam will monitor whether that is the case and take measures if needed, Van der Horst’s spokesperson said.