A12 motorway (Netherlands)
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The A12 motorway 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 ...
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 ...
. The road connects the city of
The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...
with the German border, near
Zevenaar Zevenaar () is a municipality and a city in the Gelderland province, in the eastern Netherlands near the border with Germany. Population centres * Angerlo * Babberich * Giesbeek * Lathum *Ooy * Oud-Zevenaar *Zevenaar History The earliest signs ...
, and the German
Autobahn The (; German plural ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official German term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track' ...
BAB 3. On its way, it crosses three Dutch
province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
s: South Holland,
Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...
, and
Gelderland Gelderland (), also known as Guelders () in English, is a province of the Netherlands, occupying the centre-east of the country. With a total area of of which is water, it is the largest province of the Netherlands by land area, and second by ...
.


European routes

The A12 motorway runs along with parts of three major
European route The international E-road network is a numbering system for roads in Europe developed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The network is numbered from E1 up and its roads cross national borders. It also reaches Centr ...
s: * The
European route E30 European route E30 is an A-Class European route from the port of Cork in Ireland in the west to the Russian city of Omsk, near the border with Kazakhstan in the east. For much of the Russian stretch, it follows the Trans-Siberian Highway a ...
follows the A12 between interchange Prins Clausplein near The Hague, and interchange
Lunetten Lunetten is a neighbourhood in the southeastern part of the city of Utrecht, that has approximately 12.000 inhabitants. It is mainly a residential area, since there is no significant industry present. Lunetten was constructed as an urban experimen ...
, just southeast of the city of
Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...
. * The
European route E25 European route E25 is a north–south European route from Hook of Holland in the Netherlands, to Palermo in Italy which includes ferry crossings from Genoa to Bastia (Corsica), from Bonifacio to Porto Torres (Sardinia) and from Cagliari to Pal ...
runs along the A12 between interchange Gouwe near Gouda, and interchange Oudenrijn, just southwest of Utrecht. * The
European route E35 European route E35 is a European route that runs from Amsterdam, Netherlands, in northwestern Europe, to Rome, Italy in the south of the continent. The road heads through Germany and Switzerland before reaching Italy. Route description * ** ...
follows the route of the A12 from interchange Oudenrijn towards the German border.


The A12 near The Hague

The section of the A12 road within the city of The Hague (near exits 1, 2 and 3) is actually not a motorway, but a
highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-acces ...
. This part of the road, known as the ''Utrechtsebaan'', is too narrow to meet the Dutch requirements for a motorway (for example, it does not have a
shoulder The human shoulder is made up of three bones: the clavicle (collarbone), the scapula (shoulder blade), and the humerus (upper arm bone) as well as associated muscles, ligaments and tendons. The articulations between the bones of the shoulder mak ...
), and is therefore a highway with a maximum speed of 70 km/h. To block local traffic from using this heavily congested part of the road, exits 2 through 4 are built as incomplete exits. These exits only feature westbound exits and eastbound entrances, so they can only be used by interlocal traffic. Local traffic is therefore forced to make use of the available local roads.


'Branding' controversy

In 2008, a government programme on route branding, under an umbrella project in
urban planning Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...
, put stickers on all streetlights of the A12, citing efforts to give it a " route 66-like" allure. This plan, dubbed the "" (''rainbow route''), received news coverage because of its alleged trivial results (stickers on streetlights) and high costs (€120 000).ad.nl
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Exit list


References

{{Motorways in the Netherlands Constituent roads of European route E30 Motorways in the Netherlands Motorways in Gelderland Motorways in South Holland Motorways in Utrecht (province) Transport in The Hague Transport in Utrecht (city)