The A2 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 Neth ...

. It is one of the busiest highways in the Netherlands. The road connects the city of Amsterdam, near the Amstel interchange with the Belgian border, near Maastricht (NL) and Liège (B), and the Belgian A25 road. The route of the A2 motorway is shared with two 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. Between its start, at Amstel Interchange, near Amsterdam, and the Interchange Oudenrijn, near

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 Nethe ...

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 A2 motorway. From the Oudenrijn Interchange towards the Belgian border just south of Maastricht,

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 Pa ...

follows the route of the A2. Local and express lanes on A2 have different speed limits. The speed limit on express lanes is 120 km/h (75 mph) and locals is 100 km/h (63 mph).

Route description

Road N2

In the past, the motorway A2 was interrupted at one location, near Maastricht. This section was referred to as N2, to make a distinction between the motorway (A2) and the non-motorway (N2).

The N2 through Maastricht

Until recently, the motorway A2 was interrupted between the interchanges Kruisdonk and Europaplein through Maastricht. This road section was built as a highway (N2) with several

at-grade intersection An intersection or an at-grade junction is a junction where two or more roads converge, diverge, meet or cross at the same height, as opposed to an interchange, which uses bridges or tunnels to separate different roads. Major intersections ...

s with

traffic light Traffic lights, traffic signals, or stoplights – known also as robots in South Africa are signalling devices positioned at road intersections, pedestrian crossings, and other locations in order to control flows of traffic. Traffic lights ...

s. In December 2016 the Koning Willem-Alexandertunnel was opened to traffic, a 4-lane tunnel built in two layers, which put an end to this situation.

The N2 around Eindhoven

The

beltway A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop, bypass or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city, or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist i ...

around the city of Eindhoven, the so-called ''Randweg'' between the interchanges Ekkersweijer and Leenderheide, uses a system of local-express lanes. The inner two lanes do not have any exits, so it is exclusively for express traffic passing the city of Eindhoven; it is considered a motorway (A2) with a maximum speed of . The outer two lanes are used by vehicles to and from Eindhoven and the neighbouring towns. It does not meet the Dutch standards of a motorway (steeper grades near intersections and smaller bend radiuses), and has a maximum speed of . These outer lanes have road number N2, to distinguish the local lanes from the express lanes.

History

Other reconstruction projects

The A2 motorway was subject to multiple reconstruction projects. Next to the project around Eindhoven, as described above, the A2 was being rebuilt at the following locations:

Amsterdam - Utrecht

Between interchanges Holendrecht and Oudenrijn, the road has been widened from six (2x3) to ten (2x5) lanes. It has enough space to expand the road to fourteen (2x7) lanes. Near the city of Utrecht, a system of local-express lanes has been applied, with the inner three lanes serving express traffic, and the outer two lanes serving local traffic. Unlike the situation near Eindhoven, the motorway status is maintained for local lanes, which means that all ten lanes will keep the name A2. Between 1954 and 1986, a level crossing operated on the motorway.

Utrecht - 's-Hertogenbosch

Between interchanges Oudenrijn and Everdingen, the A2 was expanded to 2x4 lanes. Between interchanges Everdingen and Deil, the road is widened from four (2x2) to eight lanes (2x4); the section between interchanges Deil and Empel was expanded from four to six lanes.

's-Hertogenbosch beltway

The A2 around the city of

's-Hertogenbosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a city and municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 157,486. It is the capital of the province of North Brabant and its fourth largest by population. The city is south of t ...

was rebuilt similarly to the future situation near Utrecht. However, there are only just four express lanes, instead of the six near Utrecht, so the road has 4x2 lanes.

's-Hertogenbosch - Eindhoven

Since both the 's-Hertogenbosch and Eindhoven beltways were finished in 2009, a new bottleneck appeared between both cities. The motorway has only 2x2 lanes while both beltways are having twice the capacity. Construction of expanding this section to 2x3 lanes started on December 13, 2011. infrasite.nl
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Exit list

References

{{Motorways in the Netherlands Motorways in the Netherlands Motorways in Gelderland Motorways in Limburg (Netherlands) Motorways in North Brabant Motorways in North Holland Motorways in Utrecht (province) South Limburg (Netherlands) Transport in Amsterdam Transport in Eindhoven Transport in 's-Hertogenbosch Transport in Maastricht Transport in Sittard-Geleen Transport in Utrecht (city) Transport in Weert