In all intensity
Traffic jams on Dutch roads have returned ‘in full force’ this year. This is stated by the ANWB Traffic Information on the basis of traffic jam figures for the first quarter of this year. Moreover, according to the traffic service, we are standing still more often than before corona.
Traffic jams are not only completely back, it is even busier on the road than before the corona time. Compared to the first quarter of 2019, the number of congestion rose nationally by 10 percent, the ANWB reports. In North Holland, traffic jams grew by 20 percent in the past three months compared to 2019. The busiest provinces remain South Holland and North Brabant. The congestion severity is the number of kilometers times the number of minutes of traffic jam. Snow and rain resulted in rush hour traffic jams of 1,093 kilometers and 1,102 kilometers on both Tuesday morning 7 and 14 March.
“It will have to do with the fact that we have all slowly returned to the office, but at the same time we also see that working from home is still happening,” says Arnoud Broekhuis of the ANWB. The fleet has grown by 470,000 cars since 2019, Broekhuis illustrates, “which literally and figuratively leaves its mark on the road”. According to Statistics Netherlands, there are now about 8.9 million passenger cars on the road in our country, says Broekhuis. “Add to that the freight traffic and it is clear that this has consequences for the flow. Especially if we go on the road at the same time.”
Tuesday and Thursday remain the busiest days on the road. In combination with bad weather, the Tuesday morning rush hour in the first quarter grew by almost 50 percent and Thursday by more than 20 percent. On Monday and Friday morning it was a bit quieter than before. According to Broekhuis, there is nothing to indicate that the road will become less busy.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl