The A31 / N31 is a

motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...

and an expressway in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. It connects the A7 near Zurich with the A7 near

Drachten Drachten () is a town in the northern Netherlands. It is located in the municipality of Smallingerland, Friesland. It had a population of around 45,186 in January 2017 and is the second largest town in the province of Friesland. History Begin ...

, passing close to

Leeuwarden Leeuwarden (; fy, Ljouwert, longname=yes /; Town Frisian: ''Liwwadden''; Leeuwarder dialect: ''Leewarden'') is a city and municipality in Friesland, Netherlands, with a population of 123,107 (2019). It is the provincial capital and seat of the ...

, the provincial capital. It is slightly unusual due to it changing from full motorway to normal 2-lane road along various sections of its 65 km length.

Route description

The short section between the Zurich interchange with the A7, and exit 15 for Zurich (approx 1.7 km) is designated as the A31 and is built to motorway standards. The next 7 km continues as a 4-lane expressway, until the road narrows to just a normal 2-lane road for the next 3 km while it passes over an elevated section through Harlingen. This section from Zurich to Harlingen is designated as the N31, but retains the motorway-style

grade separated In civil engineering (more specifically highway engineering), grade separation is a method of aligning a junction of two or more surface transport axes at different heights (grades) so that they will not disrupt the traffic flow on other tra ...

intersections. For the next 18 km, until exit 22 for

Marssum Marsum or Marssum is a village in Waadhoeke in the province of Friesland, the Netherlands. It had a population of around 1,052 in January 2017. Before 2018, the village was part of the Menameradiel municipality. Every year a Marsumer of the ye ...

, the road is once again designated the A31 and is built to motorway standards. This section of the A31 bypasses the towns of

Franeker Franeker (; fry, Frjentsjer) is one of the eleven historical cities of Friesland and capital of the municipality of Waadhoeke. It is located north of the Van Harinxmakanaal and about 20 km west of Leeuwarden. As of 1 January 2014, it had 12, ...

and

Dronrijp Dronryp ( nl, Dronrijp) is a village in the Dutch municipality of Waadhoeke. On 1 January 2017, it had 3,281 inhabitants. History and architecture Before 2018, the village was part of the Menameradiel municipality. A few centuries BC, a settleme ...

. At exit 22 one has to take this exit to follow the N31 while continuing over the exit, the road reverts to an expressway and continues as the N383 into Leeuwarden. The remaining 35 km of the N31, until it meets exit 30 of the A7, is once again an expressway. Of this last section, the first 13 km around Leeuwarden is a just a 2-lane road with at-grade intersections and utilises traffic signals and roundabouts, while the final section opens out into 4-lanes with grade separated intersections. The widening of this last section to four lanes, was completed in 2008.

History

Harlingen-Port was supposed to be an exchanging point for mainly passengers, already in 1845–64, and so, supposed to be connected by three railway junctions. One of these was planned alongside the 'Afsluitdijk' (enclosure-Dam). Besides that, Harlingen was connected by road to the E-10 highway running from Barcelone to St.Petersbourg. In the opinion of the NL government, Harlingen-Port was/is doomed to be insulated but, Harlingens' and Friesland/Gronings isolation was decided politically and not on a geographical basis. The industry and transport connection of Friesland-Groningen provinces was also politically determined not to develop. The 're-numbering' of the E10 Highway onto 'N31' was determined with the political decision, to de-generate important Hinterland-connections out from Harlingen-Port. The highway was built without escape lanes, like the 'n31' connection Leeuwarden onto Drachten.... and therefore more dangerous, because of no entrance to emergency 112 vehicles in case of accidents. The real highways in NL and Northern NL are named 'A-highways' like A7, A1, A2. The railway along The Afsluitdijk was also planned along the trajectory of the now realized 4-lanes Motorway 'N31' Harlingen-Zurch-'Afsluitdijk.' The Railway along this enclosure-dike was discerned after WW II in 1940 to 1945, of cause by the decision, to electrify the railjoncton Statal Railway no. A (Groningen/Leeuwarden --Zwolle (Utrecht) - Arnhem. Kerst Huisman, "Harlingen als schakel tussen Engeland en Eurazië' Leeuwarder Courant, March 1994

Exit list

References

External links

{{Motorways in the Netherlands Motorways in the Netherlands Motorways in Friesland Transport in Leeuwarden Harlingen, Netherlands Smallingerland Súdwest-Fryslân Tytsjerksteradiel Waadhoeke