Effects of the Opening of the Amsterdam Orbital Motorway. Final Report on Phase 1

摘要

Adding the Zeeburger tunnel, as the final eastern part of the Orbital Motorway, to the main road network around Amsterdam has led to extra road capacity and road links particularly for traffic crossing the North Sea Canal. The new connections allow new route possibilities with shorter travel times and shorter distances. The extra capacity and the shifts of route have generally led to a decrease in the congestion level and in travel time losses connected with this. For many car drivers these changes in traffic flow quality have been the reason to change their departure times back to the rush hours. As a net result, particularly of the changing of route, the total amount of road traffic has slightly increased in the Amsterdam region with locally large increases and decreases in traffic density. The shifting of departure times has led to a decrease in congestion that is, however, smaller than that expected on the basis of the extra capacity available.