Thousands of people protest against widening of A27 Amelisweerd

Thousands of people demonstrated on the Domplein in Utrecht on Saturday afternoon against the planned widening of the A27 near the Amelisweerd estate. According to the protest organization, about 4,000 people joined the protest.

Several resident groups and environmental organizations, including the Friends of Amelisweerd and Extinction Rebellion Utrecht, organized the demonstration in Utrecht. Among others, comedian Vincent Bijlo addressed the attendees.

The organization is pleased with the turnout. "This shows how important Amelisweerd is for Utrecht and the surrounding area. There must be an end to the asphalt thinking that is very damaging and does not solve alleged traffic jam problems," said Anneke Wensing of the action group Amelisweerd not Asphalted.

The widening of the A27 at Amelisweerd has been discussed for decades. The reason for Saturday's protest was that Minister Barry Madlener (Infrastructure and Water Management) recently rejected an alternative plan that the province and municipality of Utrecht and surrounding municipalities had drawn up to improve the flow of traffic on the highway. In that plan, it would not be necessary to cut down trees.

However, Madlener wants to stick to his own plan, he stated on Friday. According to him, the flow in his plan is safer than in the alternative and more trees will be returned than will be cut down. Next week, the Council of State will consider the objections to the so-called route decision A27 / A12 Ring Utrecht.