Now that the summer holidays are over, the roads around Eindhoven are busy again. The result: long traffic jams. This prompted the province and regional municipalities to utilise the emergency lane. From now on, buses will be allowed to bypass traffic jams on a section of the A67 motorway, using the emergency lane.
On Thursday morning, representatives from the province, regional municipalities, and Rijkswaterstaat (the Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management) conducted a test drive. The organisations hope this measure will encourage the use of public transport. They hope that people will now be more likely to take the bus and leave their cars at home. This should reduce CO2 emissions and help maintain the region’s accessibility.
On the A67 towards Eindhoven, buses are permitted to use the emergency lane between Eersel and Veldhoven. The province has announced that buses using this route will now also run more punctually.
Leave the car at home
“Especially during the morning and evening rush hours, our highways are often congested. And a permanent solution is unfortunately not yet in sight. That’s why we must do everything we can to make alternative transportation as attractive as possible. If people soon see the bus driving on the emergency lane in traffic jams every day, it will be tempting to leave the car at home next time,” responds provincial administrator Stijn Smeulders.
Effects
‘Brainport Bereikbaar’, a collaborative initiative between regional municipalities and the provincial government, will be mapping the impact of the measure in the coming period. The organisation will do this by examining, for example, changes in the use of parking spaces on business parks.
The plan is to have buses using the emergency lane on the A2 motorway by mid-next year. This will be the section between the Leenderheide interchange and Valkenswaard.
Source: Studio040
For Eindhoven News: Lila Mehrez
