In the process, traffic jams are getting longer than they have ever been. In the past year, there were as many as 70 times more than 300 kilometres of traffic jams. That is almost three times higher than previous years. Joining the back of traffic jams is therefore even more common than before.
Both morning and evening rush hour always end with long queues of cars. The delays cost the Netherlands a lot of money. According to Professor of Transport Bert van Wee of TU Delft, the annual damage is about €3 billion. The trend in recent years is that traffic jams are getting longer and longer. This is shown by figures from the Traffic Information Service (VID).
Increase in last years
Since 2008, the amount of traffic decreased, but as the crisis is over, more and more people are going by car more. Three years ago, there were significantly fewer days when there were 300 kilometres of traffic jams on Dutch roads. Since then, the number has increased with 25 days in 2013 and 67 in 2015. The VID started collecting data on traffic jams in 2000.
Rain is the culprit
Mainly rain was a big game-changer for traffic this year. The large number of rainstorms caused a lot of traffic jams. Due to the past crisis years, there was less traffic. The longest traffic jams were on Thursday. But not only rainstorms and accidents cause traffic jams. Last November 26, there was a long traffic jam without any accidents or rain throwing a spanner in the works. Due to this trend, the VID expects long traffic jams in 2016 too and probably a new low in traffic jams.
Solution for traffic jams
The VID reports on its website that solutions are being sought. "Some of the locations in the 2015 bottleneck list will benefit next year from recent road widening projects, such as the widening of the A1 between Amsterdam and Muiden, the A1 between Bunschoten and Hoevelaken and the rush-hour lane on the A7 between Purmerend and Zaandam. Moreover, the recent opening of the A4 through Midden-Delfland will ensure that through traffic around Rotterdam will divide differently, so that congestion at bottlenecks will ease somewhat. That positive effect is expected on the A13, among others."
Other bottlenecks
Where some bottlenecks are removed, others are created. "Solving a bottleneck causes traffic to report in greater numbers downstream at a location where nothing or less was going on before. Examples are the Gouwe and Oudenrijn junctions on the A12 and Rijnsweerd junction on the A28, which were created after road widening projects on the A12 between Gouda and Woerden, the A12 between Woerden and Gouda and the A28 near Amersfoort, respectively." In the process, more traffic jams occur outside the Randstad.
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