A lot busier and the accelerator pedal is also firmly pressed. Residents on the Eemslandweg in Zwartemeer feel the consequences of the German border controls at the A37. Their street is a beloved shortcut for traffic that has little appetite in the delaying checks.
“It’s a good thing that you have parked the car a little off the road,” says Henry Maatje. “Otherwise they will drive you off the mirrors.” Maatje lives on the Eemslandweg, a street that is parallel to the slightly more north -located A37. From his driveway, Maatje has a view of this highway, where traffic jams to the border crossing to Germany occur daily.
Not everyone is hungry. Quite a bit of traffic turns off at the Zwartemeer exit, one and a half kilometers from the border. They then take the Eemslandweg, with which the border can also be crossed, behind the German checkpoint. The file can be skipped so nicely.
“Since then it has been a lot busier here,” says Maatje. Many trucks and cars and many campers since the start of the holidays. The road is sometimes just like a race track. Because the accelerator pedal is also kicked firmly, says Maatje. “I sometimes can’t even turn onto the road from my own driveway. No, it is quiet now. But you are sometimes waiting ten minutes before you get away.”
Yet he understands the checks. “They do have an effect.” But the discomfort is the downside of the coin. “And complaining does not help,” he says shoulder.
Bert de Jonge and Trijntje Posthuma, who renovates a house on Eemslandweg together with brother Arie, is annoyed. “Terrible,” Bert summarizes the situation in a word. “Occasionally there must be a wheelbarrow with debris to the other side of the road. They almost drive you off the heels. You can do a maximum of 50 here, but I think it’s just like 80.” Moreover, you don’t get along with it, says Bert and Trijntje.
Via the Eemslandweg, road users can then return to the road via the welcome bridge or Schöningsdorf. “But the gain of time is nil, says Bert. And that, in addition to hard driver, causes other suffering, said Arie.” I recently heard a blow to the street and yes, then a mirror of a car lay off. “
That is why something may happen from the government. “A ban on freight traffic”, Trijntje suggests. “Or cameras,” adds Bert. That would be a step in the right direction, according to the three.
According to another neighbor, who would rather not be mentioned by name, it all goes with times. Since the holiday period it is sometimes ‘crazy pressure’ and there are ‘kamikaze pilots’ under passing traffic. “If a truck passes by, you will feel shaking in the house.” She sees risks for cycling youth on the street. “And those extra exhaust gases are not exactly nice either.”
But not everyone complains. Annet Bürmann lives with her husband Bertus in the former border office, who is also located on the Eemslandweg. Because once the border crossing was there. She does understand the situation. “I do not experience any nuisance myself. It is logical that people who want to avoid traffic jams at the border. And the checks do indeed bear fruit.” Want to install a barrier for the old office again to discourage shortcut traffic? “No, I don’t have time to put it up and down all day,” she says laughing.
According to chairman Wim Bos of the Zwartemeer village council, residents signal an increase in traffic in this part of the village. But with the village representation, the phone is not exactly red -hot, he reports. The village council does receive occasional reports, but these are mainly signaling in nature, he says.
A spokesperson for the municipality says that two reports have been received about rides. But they already date from autumn 2024. Furthermore, there are no plans to tackle the road.