The A5 motorway is a

motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms ...

in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. With a length of , it is one of the shortest motorways in the country.

Overview

The A5 serves as a western by-pass for the city of

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, relieving the western part of the A10 motorway from through traffic towards Zaanstad and the northern part of the province. It also forms a shortcut between the A4 motorway and A9 motorway, reducing travel time and distance between

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

and

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English language, English) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the Provinces of the Nether ...

and

Alkmaar Alkmaar () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland. Alkmaar is well known fo ...

. This shortcut relieved the busy intersection Badhoevedorp. The current A5 was opened in two sections: the first on November 8, 2003 connecting the A4 with the A9 resulting in two new interchanges: interchange De Hoek (A4/A5) and interchange Raasdorp (A5/A9). This section of A5 has no exits, although there is an exit ramp towards

Hoofddorp Hoofddorp (; ) is the main town of the municipality of Haarlemmermeer, in the province of North Holland, the Netherlands. In 2021, the population was 77,885. The town was founded in 1853, immediately after the Haarlemmermeer had been drained. Hi ...

when heading south. Because this junction is located just before interchange De Hoek, it is considered to be part of the A4 and therefore has no exit number. The only object one comes across when driving on this part of the A5, is a short tunnel (the Rolbaantunnel) underneath the section connecting Schiphol Airport's '' Polderbaan''

runway In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...

(the most western runway of

Schiphol Amsterdam Airport Schiphol , known informally as Schiphol Airport (, ), is the main international airport of the Netherlands, and is one of the major hubs for the SkyTeam airline alliance. It is located southwest of Amsterdam, in the municipal ...

) to the rest of the airport. Directly parallel to the A5 motorway, on its east, is another runway, the '' Zwanenburgbaan''. The second section of the A5 continues from interchange Raasdorp towards the western seaports of Amsterdam ("Westelijk Havengebied") and finally connects with the A10 just south of the

Coentunnel The Coentunnel (1966) is a tunnel in the A10 motorway under the North Sea Canal in western Amsterdam. The tunnel is named for the 17th-century colonizer Jan Pieterszoon Coen. The tunnel itself is 1283 metres long of which 587 metres are full ...

. This interchange is part of the interchange Coenplein, which originally only connected the A10 with the A8 motorway at the north side of the tunnel. Now the interchange is in fact a double interchange with the tunnel in between. This section of the A5 opened in two stages. First, in December 2012 the section between interchange Raasdorp and the IJmuiden junction opened. In May 2013 the remaining part including the connection with the A10 opened.Wegenwiki
/ref> This part also includes one of the longest motorway viaducts of the Netherlands, giving motorists a panorama of the seaports.

Future plans

In the future, a new part of Amsterdam might be built. This "Parkwijk" can be connected with the A5 by building a new junction between interchange Raasdorp en junction 2. Exit number 1 has been reserved for this possible new junction.

Speed limit

Between interchange De Hoek and interchange Raasdorp the speed limit on the A5 is 130 km/h (81 mph). Between interchange Raasdorp and interchange Coenplein the speed limit is 100 km/h (62 mph).

Exit list

External links

References

{{Motorways in the Netherlands Motorways in the Netherlands Motorways in North Holland Transport in Amsterdam Haarlemmermeer