It takes ages!
Perhaps the common denominator of all infrastructure projects: a road like this doesn't appear overnight. Construction began in 1962, but the project was not carried out as a whole. Bit by bit, roads, exits, viaducts and bridges were built. In 1966 the Coentunnel opened and with it the first stretch of the A10 came into use. In the years that followed, West (1975), Zuid (1981) and finally the link between Oost and Noord opened in 1990 with the Zeeburgertunnel under the Buiten IJ.
Cars almost within touching distance
Then and now, West is an interesting stretch of the A10. The road runs close to homes in the Kolenkitbuurt, for example, and partly for that reason there is a permanent speed limit of 80 km/h, enforced by a permanent average speed check. In recent years there have been plans to turn the A10-West into a city road and thereby strip it of its motorway status. In that case the 'ring' would get bigger by taking in a stretch of the A5.
We can't do without it any more
For almost 30 years we have been driving carefree up the slip roads of our ring road, without realising that people once had to manage without this asphalt. The absence of the A10 would put far too much strain on the streets and squares of the city; we simply cannot do without the A10. There certainly was criticism, during construction and still today, but just like with the North/South line it quickly fades the moment we happen to need that metro or motorway...
- 01Our ring road is, to be absolutely precise, 32.3 kilometres long;
- 02No surprise: the A10 is one of the busiest motorways in the Netherlands;
- 03The A10 features in the Traffic Jam Top 10. Between exit S101 and the Coentunnel you really will spend some time in a queue during rush hour. That is the oldest section of the motorway;
- 04On almost the entire ring you may usually drive 100 km/h. On the A10-West the maximum speed is 80 km/h and it is wise to stick to it, because the average speed check is guaranteed to take your picture;
- 05Every day 130 thousand vehicles drive through the Coentunnel;
- 06The original Coentunnel, where it all began, was partly relieved in 2013 by a second tunnel, because traffic had of course increased considerably over all those years.
