The provincial road N203 between Castricum and Uitgeest is closed to motorized traffic from 8 p.m. A steel wall is then placed behind which road workers can safely continue working on a hedge between the cycle path and the road. The hedge is part of making the ‘death road’ safer.
The closure will last until 6 a.m. tomorrow morning. Traffic is diverted via Geesterweg and Uitgeesterweg. The cycle path remains accessible.
Installing the hedge will continue until Christmas and is the last short-term measure that the province and municipalities will implement to make the infamous N203 road safer. At the moment they are halfway through the hedge. After the closure today, planting will continue in the direction of Castricum.
Markings have already been installed along the cycle path, the motorway has been given thicker lines, the center conductor at the petrol station has been extended and there has been a general overtaking ban since September. Agricultural vehicles are also no longer allowed to be overtaken.
Dead and wounded
The N203 is one of the most unsafe provincial roads in North Holland and has a sad history with several fatal accidents and many injured. The Provincialeweg is now known as ‘death road’.
The infamous road section is about four kilometers long and consists of two lanes with a cycle path next to it. With a number of gentle bends it leads you past meadows and nature reserves. It is precisely in those bends that things often go wrong. Local residents have been calling for measures for years.
As farmer Arnold Res who has lived along the N203 for almost thirty years and has experienced several serious accidents up close. He advocates a guardrail. “That hedge does not protect cyclists, cars can drive right through it.”
It was announced in April last year that the road will be completely overhauled to improve safety. That major maintenance is planned for 2028. But it is not yet known what these structural improvements will be.