In three weeks, Julianaplein in Groningen will be largely closed for five months. This affects the working Northern Netherlands, from Drachten to Winschoten, from Emmen to Zoutkamp. Employers in the city are taking plenty of measures.
The parking lots of Campus Groningen, Zernike location, are extensive. On a weekday there are thousands of cars lined up bumper to bumper. Zernike attracts 50,000 visitors every day.
Mobility market at Hanze University of Applied Sciences
Not all of them come by car. But a lot, as evidenced by the busy parking lots. That will have to be different Operation Ring South will take place on March 22, says Monique Koller from Hanze University of Applied Sciences. Together with other Zernike users, such as the RUG and companies, Hanze University of Applied Sciences held a well-attended Mobility Market on Thursday.
The market is intended to inform employees about alternatives to the car. Koller: “We noticed recently that people were starting to wonder: ‘how am I going to get to work?’.”
Koller is pleased with the rise in the market and the requests for information. It is not the only thing Hanze University does to reduce the number of car movements, especially at peak times. “We want to try to spread the crowds by staying away from the 9 o’clock time, for example with internal consultations.”
Speed pedelec on the rise
One of the stands at the information market is that of Egbert Egberts Premium Store, a bicycle store in Groningen and specialized in the Stromer pedelec. This is an electric bicycle with an insurance tag that allows the cyclist to reach speeds of 45 kilometers per hour.
Shop manager Nick de Groot said a few weeks ago that he had already seen an increase in interest in pedelecs. Precisely because of the impending closure of Julianaplein. “People from the north of Drenthe or the west side of Groningen are looking for a solution that takes them from door to door.”
According to De Groot, a regular e-bike is not enough for these people. “Because of the range, but certainly also the speed.”
Groningen Bereikbaar is going to great lengths to prevent Groningen from being a traffic horror for five months. The organization makes an urgent appeal to every motorist: Adjust your travel behavior for the next five months. Work from home if possible. Take the bike or public transport and if the car is unavoidable, travel via a P+R.
Groningen Bereikbaar message seems to have gone down
Groningen Bereikbaar is present at the Mobility Market at the Hanze University of Applied Sciences. “They’ve really been everywhere,” says Koller. “We inform the lepla… well, you know,” said an employee of Groningen Bereikbaar recently.
In any case, their message seems to have reached one of the largest employers in the city, the UMCG. Spokeswoman Janneke Kruse lists a series of measures that the hospital takes to avoid crowds on the road. For example, when planning patient appointments, we consider whether a visit to the hospital is necessary or whether the appointment can be done remotely.
Another measure is to look at zip codes. Appointments with people living in a postal code area outside the city are scheduled outside rush hour, if possible.
UMCG employees are cycling en masse
Kruse: “In addition, bicycle use among our employees is extremely high. We see that 68 percent of employees come by bike. The majority of them do everything by bike. Another part uses the bicycle in combination with public transport or P+R.
Then it is important to prevent public transport from bursting at the seams. “We are in discussions with the public transport agency to see what we can do to prevent buses from being packed during rush hour,” says Mark Timmers of Noorderpoort. The educational institution has various locations spread across Groningen.
Noorderpoort takes this into account in class schedules
“We try to follow the well-known advice of Groningen Bereikbaar. At the same time, we try to take this into account as much as possible in our class schedules. We hope to ensure that students come to school at different times.”
Ultimately, the assignment that Groningen Bereikbaar sets for the Julianaplein-free period is clear: 80,000 fewer cars per day . Doesn’t that work? Then it gets stuck. Guaranteed.
Groningen Accessible: Have you realized? Yes. Guarantee? No
Groningen Bereikbaar has held many dozens of information meetings in recent months. Another roadshow is planned for the coming weeks. “We notice that people have started thinking more about how and what they will have to do once Operation Southern Ring Road has started. Is that a guarantee for a smooth process? No,” says Hans-Paul Klijnsma of Groningen Bereikbaar. “But you know one thing for sure: if we hadn’t done it all, it would have gone wrong anyway.”
Klijnsma notices that in many places people think: ‘this is the last part of the ring road misery’. “That is indeed the case, although there will really be a closure after September. But anyway, we notice that people are thinking about it. Internal working groups have also been set up here and there that are working on this. For example, Gasunie will, if possible, move to Assen for consultations. Just like the CBR conducts driving tests outside the city.”