The Municipality of Amsterdam is starting today to demolish the cut in the Weesperstraat. The Anne Frankstraat and the Kattenburgergracht are even open again. This officially brings the much-discussed traffic test to an end today. With the cut, the municipality wanted to investigate the effects on traffic, safety and the quality of life in the city in six weeks.
The experiment provoked a lot of resistance from the very first moment. The Weesperstraat, Anne Frankstraat, Hoogte Kadijk and Kattenburgergracht were closed to car and freight traffic daily from 06:00 to 23:00 from 12 June. The cut caused from day one big traffic jams in the city.
Lots of resistance
Due to the closure, a lot of traffic had to drive via the Kattenburgerstraat. Residents of Kattenburg were soon fed up with the traffic and organized a noise demo. The demonstrators felt that the traffic nuisance in the city was not solved with the cut, but was moved to their neighborhood.
There was also a lot of discussion about who was or was not allowed to drive through the barriers. This became apparent in the first week of the cut tourist buses had an exemption to pass the barriers, while additional public transport (AOV) for the elderly and people with disabilities did not have that. Buses that brought children to their school trips were also not allowed through the barriers. Shortly afterwards, the alderman decided that elderly transport could also pass through the barriers.
Urgent debates
These events at the beginning of the cut motivated the VVD to make a emergency debate to request. VVD councilor Daan Wijnants said that the cut is ‘too far-reaching to continue’. The debate was suspended after AT5 reported that there had been several incidents with ambulances that were not always allowed through at the barriers. There were also several incidents at the fire service with vehicles that could not or were not allowed to pass through the barriers.
Alderman Van der Horst announced that she would advise the council could not be fully informed based on the information she had. She then promised the council that daily updates would be sent about the incidents. After reports came back about emergency services getting stuck due to heavy traffic, there was another urgent debate. Last week, for the third emergency debate applied for, with the opposition making its last attempt to halt the trial early.
Target trial
The alderman persevered and the test survived the six weeks. The need for the cut was high, according to Van der Horst. She said that 1500 cars per hour drive through the Weesperstraat and if nothing is done, it is only a matter of time before the city comes to a complete standstill. The results of the trial should provide insight into the effects of closing a street. The evaluation is next fall.