The Novaweg along the northern village edge of Winsum is open. This is the new connecting road between the Onderdendamsterweg and the Provincialeweg N361.
The road must ensure that 50 percent less motorized traffic drives through the center of Winsum. Residents there have been complaining about dangerous traffic situations for years.
Trucks, vans and heavy agricultural traffic must share the road in the center with pedestrians and cyclists, including many students, children and the elderly. 7,000 vehicles pass by every day. The new Novaweg should ensure that mainly through traffic avoids the center. Counts will be held in several places in the village in a few months to see if this is the case.
Novaweg is 60-kilometer road
In 2016, the former municipality of Winsum decided on the new connecting road, which is named after the adjacent flower district, popularly known as Nova Zembla. The 60-kilometre road goes through a tunnel under the Groningen-Eemshaven railway line.
Alderman Stephan van Keijzerswaard
For the past two weeks, the road has been open to cyclists and pedestrians, and hundreds of people have used it. Some Winsum residents would have liked to see a cycle path next to the new road, but there was no money for that at the time, says alderman Stephan van Keijzerswaard. As an opening act, he drove along the road with fellow alderman Eltjo Dijkhuis in an old fire truck that cost 8.3 million euros and remained within budget.
Rapid cycle path Groningen-Winsum
The province of Groningen is also making the main road N361 safer. Several roundabouts have been built for this purpose in recent years. The last one will follow this summer near the Garnwerderweg in Winsum. A fast cycle path has also been constructed along the track between Groningen and Winsum. The last part, roughly between Sauwerd and Winsum, must be completed in September.