Thursday’s rush hour on Dutch motorways is “by far the busiest” of the year. A spokesperson for the ANWB informed the ANP news agency about this. At the peak of the Thursday evening rush hour, there were 1,491 kilometers of traffic jams, according to the ANWB. The previous busiest rush hour of 2023 was that of March 14: about 1,100 kilometers. Thursday’s rush hour is also the fourth busiest of all time, according to the ANWB spokesperson.
The crowds are partly due to the start of the Easter weekend and the bad weather. In addition, the large crowds in the Rotterdam region played a major role. The closure of the Kethel tunnel, west of Rotterdam, played a role. That would have caused at least a few hundred kilometers of extra traffic jams. In addition, the roads in North Brabant were very busy with a total of 400 kilometers of traffic jams, as were the A2 and A27 motorways. Both roads run from north to south. According to the ANWB spokesperson, “all daily traffic jams” were also longer than usual.