All signals are green to turn the Aalsmouderdijk in Rijsenhout into a bicycle street. New counts have confirmed that the traffic pressure on the ring dike in the village has decreased so sharply since 2018 that a bicycle street is also possible without closing the dike at the height of the Verremeer.
The municipality believes that more space must be created for recreation on the Ringdijk. One of the measures she wants to take is a bicycle street on the Aalsmouderdijk in Rijsenhout, according to the Ringvaart-Ringdijk Implementation Program from 2017.
A condition for such a bicycle street – where cars are welcome, provided they drive at a maximum speed of 30 km per hour – is that the number of motorists is and will remain limited. Because the number of cars on the Aalsmouderdijk exceeded the limit until the corona crisis, the municipality decided that the dike would be closed in the future.
Don’t rush
However, the council did not want to make that decision hastily. To measure the effect of a closure, the Aalsmouderdijk near the Verremeer was closed for four weeks in November 2021.
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Even before that test, the municipality was surprised about the relatively small number of motorists using the Aalsmeerdijk. The number of motorists also remained low during and after the test, but because a corona effect could not be ruled out in November 2021, the count was recently repeated. And again the number of motorists turned out low enough to turn the Aalsmouderdijk in Rijsenhout into a bicycle street.
Bullet not yet through church
However, the municipality cannot yet definitively confirm the arrival of the bicycle street. “With the current number of cars, the bicycle street can be built”, the spokesman for alderman Ruigrok puts it diplomatically to NH News.
In any case, residents of the Aalsmeerderijk near the Veeremeer are happy that the bicycle street is one step closer. Compared to five years ago, the nuisance has decreased considerably, they say to NH Nieuws, partly due to the diversion of freight traffic. “Sometimes things go wrong, but it’s nice living here,” said a local resident.
‘Very busy during rush hour’
Another resident questions the counts. “If you measure from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., you don’t count many cars, indeed.” According to her, it is often very busy during rush hour. “A car now also passes every two seconds, luckily they drive calmly. They will probably see the thirty-kilometer zone signs.”
Even if the Aalsmouderdijk in Rijsenhout becomes a bicycle street, motorists may drive a maximum of thirty kilometers per hour. Nevertheless, according to the municipality, it will not only make the dike more attractive, but also make it safer for traffic.