For a traffic manager, closing a motorway is never routine. The 16-day closure of the A10 Zuid and Oost called for particularly intensive preparations. With the Public Works department (Rijkswaterstaat), neighbouring municipalities, police, fire brigade, ambulance services and events organisers. Usually, when the start date arrives, everyone is prepared and all kinds of warnings of major disruption have been issued, the traffic tends to follow a predictable pattern: extremely busy during the first days of the closure, but drivers then adapt and the congestion diminishes. What is unusual about this road closure is that this is yet to happen. Traffic levels have hardly decreased at all.
Hardly any reduction in traffic
At rush hour on a working day, 10,000 vehicles travel across the A10 Zuid per hour. At a rate of 8,000 per hour, traffic levels at weekends are slightly lower. Van den Brink: ‘With so much traffic, we know that there’ll be extreme congestion. In addition, we’re also seeing plenty of breakdowns and accidents on the diversion via the A9, A10 West and Noord. This led to increased journey times of almost 90 minutes in some places. On Thursday, 3 July, there were more than ten breakdowns on the A9 between 16.00 and 18.00. These immediately caused further congestion in the city.’
Busier by 10%
We continuously monitor the traffic. The results show that, on Thursday, 3 July, it was around 7% busier than on the first days of the road closure. In the evening rush hour, there was actually up to 10% more traffic on the motorways around Amsterdam than on the previous days. Generally, Thursday is the busiest day and the busiest evening rush hour of the week. Things were no different during this closure period.
Alternatives
‘We’re noticing that people’s willingness to adjust the way they travel has its limits’, says Van den Brink. But what adjustments can you make? With so many closures, what alternatives are there if you have to get to work or have appointments? ‘Some people have no choice. Think of midwives or people with mobility issues – and then there’s the emergency services, of course. We should make every attempt we can to leave as much space as possible for them. This can be done by starting your journey after rush hour, working elsewhere or at home if possible or by carpooling. Whatever you do, don’t try to find an alternative route through the city. There’s a very high risk you’ll get stuck in traffic.’
Prepared for the journey
‘Of course, we understand that we’re not making things easy for people. There are works virtually every weekend and throughout the whole summer – involving Zuidasdok or other projects. On the motorways, on the railway and in the city. Keeping track of it all is difficult for drivers. That’s why we always advise checking the route before departure to avoid any unwelcome surprises’, says Van den Brink. ‘Request personal travel advice from the Ask&GO travel information service, simply by using WhatsApp’, he recommends. ‘And make sure you use the navigation systems that we know for certain have been updated: TomTom Go, Waze, Apple Maps.’
Breakdown teams and cameras
As many as five additional breakdown teams are standing by on a permanent basis to clear the road as quickly as possible after an accident or breakdown. There are also privacy-friendly cameras in places where we now know there could be congestion, such as at Hoofddorpplein. At these locations, there are also traffic controllers on hand to guide traffic when necessary. Agreements have been made with providers of public transport, and, of course, with the emergency services. ‘Avoiding traffic jams when the roads are so busy is especially difficult in the city centre’, says Van den Brink. ‘However, at the busiest spots, we’re making adjustments to the traffic lights in an effort to improve traffic flow to some extent.’ In addition, Amsterdam Bereikbaar is also offering special discounts to travellers who use public transport and shared mobility.
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