The tunnel on the highway was closed Monday morning due to two sick staff members who were scheduled to operate the tunnel. Their replacement has arrived at 8am, they will now clear roadblocks from the tunnel so it can reopen.
Traffic will be diverted in both directions via the A13 and A20 as long as the tunnel is closed. The closed tunnel leads to a busy rush hour around Rotterdam and in South Holland, according to the ANWB. The most delay is on the A13, where there is a traffic jam of about 10 kilometers to Rotterdam The Hague Airport. There is a delay of approximately half an hour on the A15 at the Beneluxtunnel.
Rijkswaterstaat assumes that the staff shortage due to illness is a one-off incident and does not foresee that the tunnel will have to be closed more often for this reason. Monitoring in the tunnels is important to guarantee safety, says Rijkswaterstaat Traffic Information. That is why the tunnel can only open “when all the necessary personnel are there, safety in the tunnel is paramount,” said a spokeswoman.