The shovel may go into the ground for the reconstruction of the Norgervaart between the Norgerbrug and the exit to Veenhuizen. This was determined by the Council of State.
The highest administrative court on Friday rejected the objections to the reconstruction plans. Agnes van de Vijver, resident of Bovensmilde, protested earlier this month in The Hague against the provincial plan. She believes that Drenthe should wait with the work of the N373 until the maximum speed limit of 60 kilometers per hour is in black and white. The plan as it stands now does not make the crossing safer for cyclists, she believes.
The plan of the province is based on a maximum speed for car traffic along the canal of 80 kilometers per hour. At the Domeinweg and the Koelenweg there will be central guides for cyclists who want to cross. They can cross the road in two stages. Cars cannot overtake each other there.
Separate bicycle bridges will be built over the Norgervaart for slow traffic. The Council of State believes that the province has sufficiently justified that the situation for crossing cyclists is improving. Resident Van de Vijver disputes this. There are now temporary traffic lights. There have been no more accidents since then, she says. Traffic lights in combination with a reduction in the maximum speed is the safest, she says. Then the canal does not have to be narrowed, which is what the province is planning.
The provincial government says that traffic lights provide a false sense of safety, because cyclists often drive through red lights. According to the Council of State, narrowing the canal does not affect the specific characteristics of the raised bog reclamation landscape. The canal is narrowed because the road gets wider berms.