Almost all roads, highways, on- and off-ramps, viaducts and tunnels that were closed in connection with the NATO summit are now open again. Delegations left earlier than expected, and the roads could be opened on Thursday morning instead of Friday.
The N44 is still closed, as are a number of local roads, according to Rijkswaterstaat.
Among others, the A5, A44 and N44 were partly or completely closed for the transport of the delegations that participated in the summit. Several lanes of the A4 were also closed with a wall of steel blocks. That highway has also been fully accessible since Thursday morning.
Earlier, it was expected that most closures would not be lifted until around 5:00 AM on Friday. Because the delegations left earlier than expected, it was possible to start opening the roads earlier. Rijkswaterstaat expects that the N44 will be open again later on Thursday, as well as local roads in The Hague and a number of on- and off-ramps around Schiphol Airport.
Rijkswaterstaat speaks of the largest traffic operation that the Netherlands has ever carried out. The organization made a traffic plan, with a role for, among other things, 8,500 cones, 4,450 traffic signs, 232 DRIPs (displays) and 135 text and action vehicles. Every day, twenty extra road inspectors drove around to be able to intervene in incidents.
Serious traffic jams did not occur, says Rijkswaterstaat. In the south of Amsterdam it was very busy at times due to the escorted transport of the delegations, but nationally the peak moments were relatively quiet. Rijkswaterstaat made the call to work from home as much as possible prior to the summit.