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You have undoubtedly noticed: there are quite a few traffic jams again this year. It is not entirely surprising that the ANWB concludes that traffic jams have increased considerably. In fact, traffic jams increased by 15 percent in the first six months of this year compared to the same period in pre-corona year 2019.
The congestion severity is the number of kilometers of traffic jams multiplied by the number of minutes the traffic jam is there. In the first half of 2023, the traffic jams were no less than 15 percent higher than in the first six months of 2019, the last year before the corona pandemic. So we are back to square one and actually further from home than we would like.
Initially, it was thought that working from home, driven by corona, would have and keep a positive effect on traffic jams in the Netherlands. That turns out not to be the case. The ANWB concludes that the daily traffic jams returned immediately after the last corona measures were withdrawn at the end of March last year. According to the ANWB, working from home or traveling outside rush hour has hardly any visible effect on traffic jams. Not only during peak hours, but also during the day, traffic jams have increased sharply in the past six months. There were 13 percent more traffic jams during the morning rush hour and 9 percent more traffic jams in the evening rush hour.
It is striking that the traffic jam problem is becoming noticeable in more and more provinces. For example, traffic jams in North and South Holland increased by 16 and 14 percent respectively, and in Utrecht in Gelderland by 9 and 10 percent respectively. In North Brabant, traffic congestion increased by a hefty 36 percent. The rush hour with the most traffic delays was on Thursday 6 April. On that Thursday afternoon before Easter, there was no less than 1,491 kilometers of traffic jams in the Netherlands. A – sadly – record.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl