On Friday afternoon around 4:30 there were 650 kilometers of traffic jams, making it the busiest rush hour this year so far, according to ANWB. The congestion is partly due to the closure of the A12 motorway, an important arterial road.

But travelers are still falling back into old patterns, the Mobility Alliance has pointed out, and the positive effects of the Corona crisis on our mobility are disappearing. “Despite all the warnings, it seems we have learned nothing from the Corona crisis,” Chairman Steven van Eijk said in a press release about the growing crowds.

said the head of the partnership, which includes NS, Transport & Logistiek Nederland, Bovag and ANWB. Be a part of.

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The Mobility Alliance deplores the lack of concrete agreements on mobility, despite previous indications of future problems with traffic. In addition to more travel flexibility, the union also called for investment in existing public transport capacity and maintenance of existing infrastructure. They are “indispensable for facilitating proliferation,” according to the association.

Van Eijk also points to the budget day cut, which, according to him, there is talk of investing in housing, but “insufficiently about how to get to those homes and stores in the future.”

The Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency recently painted a very different picture. According to the PBL, there will also be fewer traffic jams in the long run because more people will continue to work from home. PBL advised the government to take a close look at the planned billions of investments in the road network and public transport due to changing travel behaviour.

In response, the Mobility Alliance, along with employers and business associations VNO-NCW and MKB-Nederland, have already indicated a growth in both the economy and the population, which will increase demand for public transport and create more traffic. PBL would not have included this in its calculations.

The ANWB also noted this week that traffic jams are returning on Dutch highways. The turning point was last Monday; Arno Bruges of ANWB Traffic Information said it was the first working day after the coronavirus measures were eased. Brabants Dagblad. Until then, the number of traffic jams across the country had been halved, Broekhuis says. “Until last week it was much less. The difference with the last few days is huge. I can tell the traffic jam is back explosively. I am very surprised that we have to deal with busy strikers again so quickly.”

In the same article, traffic psychologist Gerard Tartulin wondered if we were secretly enjoying traffic jams. As a form of self-flagellation. Otherwise, I can’t explain why we’ve already fallen back into the old style. Of course there are always exceptions that have to hit the road during rush hour, but that’s a small group. A very large percentage of motorists choose it themselves, and you no longer have to feel sorry for traffic jam drivers. personal error. Unless you have a boss asking you to come to the office at a specific time.”

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