Do you often drive on the A12? Then you drive over a piece of history

You may have already driven on the A12 in Zoetermeer a thousand times. You are not alone, because this road has been used for a very long time.

The A12 used to be called the national highway 12. That this highway is an important road, people knew a long time ago. There were other similar roads in the Netherlands that were essential for moving people and goods. It was important that those roads were well maintained.

Maintenance of the roads

So important, in fact, that Charlemagne (768 – 814) thought that as emperor he should supervise this. Throughout history, these types of roads were called strata imperialis (roads supervised by the king), viae publica (public roads), and lord roads. The predecessors of the current Rijksstraatwegen, so to speak.

Napoleon Bonaparte

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a very large number of through roads existed in the Netherlands. They had come about fairly randomly, but they did form a coherent road network. It was used, among other things, for mail and passenger transport. Almost all of those roads were unpaved and in Friesland and Zeeland there were no postal routes at all. That changed when a very famous historical figure came into play: Napoleon Bonaparte.

Classification of roads

Napoleon had the roads classified throughout his empire, including the Netherlands. That happened in the year 1811. He divided them into three different classes. The routes that fell under class one and two were, according to him, ‘impérial’. That is, they would be constructed and maintained by the state.

Text continues below the image>

First decision

After Napoleon was defeated and King Willem I came to power in the Netherlands, he assumed responsibility for the roads in the same way as Napoleon. On September 28, 1814, Willem I had a total of 26 roads maintained by the State recorded. This also included route 9, Utrecht to the German border. That was the first decision.

Dutch Rijksstraatwegen

In the second decree, roads in present-day Belgium were added. Because the maintenance of all those roads would cost the State a lot of money, William I came on March 13, 1821 with a third decision. In it he divides the roads that have to be maintained by provinces and local authorities, and which by the national government: the first Rijksstraatwegen in the Netherlands. This involved a total of eleven roads and five side roads throughout the Netherlands. Here you will find an overview of those roads.

Driving over history

The national road 12 between Voorburg and Zoetermeer was the first national road to be transformed into a highway: the current A12. That happened on April 15, 1937. The next time you go to Voorburg, you now know that you are driving over a piece of Dutch history. Nice to know right?