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 ...

has a public road network totaling 139,000 km, one of the densest in the world. Its use has increased since the 1950s and now exceeds 200 billion km traveled per year, three quarters of which is by car, making it among the most intensely used road networks. In 2019, the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization, international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German ...

ranked the quality of Dutch road infrastructure as the best in Europe and second to

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

out of 141 countries. Dutch roads include at least 3,530 km of motorways (

controlled-access highway 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 ...

s) and expressways (

limited-access road A limited-access road, known by various terms worldwide, including limited-access highway, partial controlled-access highway, and expressway, is a highway or arterial road for high-speed traffic which has many or most characteristics of a contro ...

s), 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. 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, 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 to 60 km/h (37 mph), and over 41,000 km of urban roads were limited from to 30 km/h (19 mph), amounting to over half the national road network being calmed. A popular calming and collision reduction measure has been to replace intersections with

roundabout A roundabout, a rotary and a traffic circle are types of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junct ...

s in order to reduce serious T-bone collisions. By 2015, there were almost 5,000 roundabouts throughout the Netherlands. 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. Another 4,700 km of roads have clearly marked bike lanes, 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.

History

The first motorway in the Netherlands dates back to 1936, when the current A12 was opened to traffic between Voorburg and Zoetermeer, near

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 ...

. Motorway construction accelerated in the 1960s and 1970s but slowed in the 1980s. Current motorway expansion mostly occurs outside the

Randstad The Randstad (; "Rim City" or "Edge City") is a roughly crescent- or Circular arc, arc-shaped conurbation in the Netherlands, that includes almost half the country's population. With a central-western location, it connects and comprises the Net ...

. General maximum speed limits were introduced in 1957 (50 km/h within built-up areas) and in 1973 (100 km/h on extra-urban highways); the motorway limit was raised to 120 km/h in 1988.

Roads by management authority

National and provincial roads

About 5,200 km of national roads ''(rijkswegen)'' are controlled by the ''

Rijkswaterstaat Rijkswaterstaat, founded in 1798 as the ''Bureau voor den Waterstaat'' and formerly translated to Directorate General for Public Works and Water Management, is a Directorate-General of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, Ministry ...

'', and the country's twelve

provinces A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...

control about 7,800 km of provincial roads. Most motorways are national roads, and the remaining national roads are mostly expressways. Only a few motorways are provincial, and these are generally shorter and serve regional traffic.

Municipal roads

Municipal A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the gov ...

roads make up the bulk of the Dutch road network, totalling 120,000 km.

Water council roads

Aside from the division into provinces, the Netherlands is also divided into 21 water management districts. Together with other authorities, they own and control another 7,500 km of roads.

Roads by legal types and definitions

From 1998 to 2007, more than 33,000 km of roads have been converted to regional access roads with a speed limit of 60 km/h, as indicated by signage. Regional access roads are visually distinct from other roads by having no center line marking. Slower vehicles and non-motorised traffic are allowed; busier roads have adjacent cycle tracks, while quieter ones have advisory bike lanes. Regional access roads can fall under any of the road management authorities. On extra-urban roundabouts, the

CROW A crow is a bird of the genus ''Corvus'', or more broadly, a synonym for all of ''Corvus''. The word "crow" is used as part of the common name of many species. The related term "raven" is not linked scientifically to any certain trait but is rathe ...

recommends that motor vehicles have priority over cycle tracks, as opposed to urban roundabouts where cycle tracks have priority.

Within built-up areas

From 1998 through 2007, more than 41,000 km of city streets have been converted to local access roads with a speed limit of 30 km/h, for the purpose of traffic calming. Nederlands verkeersbord G5

Depending on how individual municipalities interpreted the 1997 Sustainable Safety policy guidelines, ''woonerven'' have come under pressure from a drive to implement continuous zones of 30 km/h (19 mph) on local access streets. In some towns, this has led to residents protesting against the doubling of local speed limits from 15 km/h to 30 km/h. ''Woonerven'' are still widespread and new ones are still built, sometimes because of space restrictions. In 2011, 20% of all Dutch homes were still located in ''woonerf'' areas, and around 2 million people (over 10% of the country) were living in ''woonerven''.

Notable roads and statistics

As a side effect of the dense road network, roadside and verge grass strips account for three percent of the Netherlands' total land area.

Quality

In 2019, a

report ranked the quality (extensiveness and condition) of the Dutch road infrastructure as the best in Europe, with a 6.4 score on a 7point scale. It was ranked the second-best of 141 countries in the world behind

and ahead of

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. Although

traffic congestion Traffic congestion is a condition in transport that is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. Traffic congestion on urban road networks has increased substantially since the 1950s, resulting in m ...

is a relative constant in the Netherlands, a Europe-focused summary of TomTom's 2021 traffic congestion statistics found that there were no Dutch cities in the global Top100. There were also no Dutch cities in the high congestion category, although

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 ...

was ranked #103 at 28% congestion in 2021, 2% below the "heavy" category.

Major motorways

The busiest Dutch motorway is the A13 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

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

, with a traffic volume of 140,000 motor vehicles per day.

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

, in the centre of the country, has the busiest motorways on average (almost 100,000 vehicles a day), with major motorways A1, A2, A12, A27 and A28 running through it. The number of passing motorised vehicles is counted every minute of the day at 20,000 measuring stations on the Dutch motorway network.

Notes

External links

autosnelwegen.nl
– Dutch website about the country's national roads and its motorways.

References

{{Roads in Europe Road infrastructure in the Netherlands Road transport in the Netherlands Transport infrastructure in the Netherlands Traffic law Law of the Netherlands