Roads in the Netherlands

Detailed road map of the Netherlands (2012)

The Netherlands has a public road network totaling 139,000 km,[1] one of the densest in the world.[2][3][nb 1] Its use has increased since the 1950s and now exceeds 200 billion km traveled per year,[5] three quarters of which is by car,[6] making it among the most intensely used road networks.[4] In 2019, the World Economic Forum ranked the quality of Dutch road infrastructure as the best in Europe and second to Singapore out of 141 countries.[7]

Dutch roads include at least 3,530 km of motorways and expressways,[1] and with a motorway density of 64 kilometres per 1,000 km2, the country also has one of the densest motorway networks in the world.[4] The Netherlands' main highway network (hoofdwegennet) consists of 5,200 km of national roads, together with the most prominent provincial roads. Although only about 2,500 km of roads are fully constructed to motorway standards,[8] most of the remainder are also expressways for fast motor vehicles only.

Since 1997, a national traffic safety program called "Duurzaam Veilig (Verkeer)", or "Sustainable (Road) Safety" has had a major influence on the road network. Traffic calming was applied on a massive scale; by 2009, more than 33,000 km of rural roads had their speed limit reduced from 80 km/h (50 mph) to 60 km/h (37 mph), and over 41,000 km of urban roads were limited from 50 km/h (31 mph) to 30 km/h (19 mph), amounting to over half the national road network being calmed.[9] A popular calming and collision reduction measure has been to replace intersections with roundabouts in order to reduce serious T-bone collisions. By 2015, there were almost 5,000 roundabouts throughout the Netherlands.[10][nb 2]

Except for motorways and expressways, most Dutch roads support cyclists; 35,000 km, a quarter of all roads, feature dedicated cycle tracks that are physically segregated from motor traffic.[12][13] Another 4,700 km of roads have clearly marked bike lanes,[13] and on other roads traffic calming has allowed cyclists and motorists to safely mix. Busy junctions sometimes give priority to cyclists, and in streets such as fietsstraten (cycle streets) and woonerven (home zones), bicycles always have priority over cars.

  1. ^ a b "CIA World Factbook | Field listing: Roadways". cia.gov. U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. 2014. Archived from the original on June 13, 2007. Retrieved 2015-08-17.
  2. ^ "Road density (km of road per 100 sq. km of land area) | Data | Table". data.worldbank.org. The World Bank Group. 2014. Retrieved 2014-07-07.
  3. ^ Road density - countries ranking, Knoema, Retrieved 2017-02-10
  4. ^ a b c "Road traffic, vehicles and networks | Environment at a Glance 2013: OECD Indicators" (PDF) (Press release). Paris, France: OECD Publishing. 2013. Retrieved 2014-07-10.
  5. ^ "SWOV Fact sheet | Mobility on Dutch roads" (PDF) (Press release). Leidschendam, the Netherlands: SWOV, Dutch Institute for Road Safety Research. July 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-04-15. Retrieved 2014-07-07.
  6. ^ Waard, Jan van der; Jorritsma, Peter; Immers, Ben (October 2012). "New Drivers in Mobility: What Moves the Dutch in 2012 and Beyond?" (PDF). ITF Discussion Papers. Delft, the Netherlands: OECD International Transport Forum. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-12-17. Retrieved 2014-07-07.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference WrldEconForum was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ "Autosnelweg - WegenWiki" [Motorway - WegenWiki]. wegenwiki.nl (in Dutch). 2012. Retrieved 2014-07-17.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference SWOV DV-balans was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ "Rotondes | IBM Cognos" [Roundabouts]. swov.nl (in Dutch). SWOV, Dutch Institute for Road Safety Research. 2012. Retrieved 2014-07-20.
  11. ^ Wat kost een rotonde? [What are the costs of a roundabout?] (weekly) (TV-show) (in Dutch). KRO (Catholic Broadcasting Organisation). 2012-01-26. Event occurs at 19:58. Retrieved 2017-01-28.
  12. ^ "The Netherlands boast almost 35,000 km of cycling paths". CROW - Dutch knowledge platform on cycling policy. 2012-10-25. Retrieved 18 July 2014.
  13. ^ a b "Nederland telt bijna 35.000 km fietspad" [The Netherlands has almost 35,000 km of bicycle path] (in Dutch). Verkeerskunde.nl Dutch online platform for traffic engineering. 29 August 2012. Retrieved 12 August 2014.


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