The A7 motorway is a motorway 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 ...

connecting

Zaandam Zaandam () is a city in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is the main city of the municipality of Zaanstad, and received City rights in the Netherlands, city rights in 1811. It is located on the river Za ...

, via the

Afsluitdijk The ''Afsluitdijk'' (; fry, Ofslútdyk; nds-nl, Ofsluutdiek; en, "Closure Dyke") is a major dam and causeway in the Netherlands. It was constructed between 1927 and 1932 and runs from Den Oever in North Holland province to the village of ...

Sneek Sneek (; fy, Snits) is a city southwest of Leeuwarden and the seat of the former municipality of Sneek in the province of Friesland, Netherlands. As of 2011 it is the seat of the municipality of Súdwest-Fryslân (Southwest Friesland). Th ...

and

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

to the German border near

Bad Nieuweschans Bad Nieuweschans (also ''Lange Akkeren''; ; Gronings: ''Nij-Schans''; German: ''Bad Neuschanz'') is a village in the north-eastern Netherlands on the border with Germany. It forms part of the municipality of Oldambt (municipality), Oldambt. Nieuw ...

. The entire road is part of the

European route E22 European route E22 is one of the longest European routes. It has a length of about . Many of the E-roads have been extended into Asia since the year 2000; the E22 was extended on 24 June 2002. Route United Kingdom Port of Holyhead () *: ...

, with exception of the first kilometer, between the terminus in Zaandam and the interchange Zaandam. The total length is 236 km.

Motorway interruptions

The motorway A7 is interrupted twice: *Around Sneek, the road is demoted to a highway for several kilometers, and includes some

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 a ...

s The at-grade intersections were replaced with grade-separated intersections in 2008–2010. However, it isn't a motorway. *Also, around the city of Groningen, it is demoted over a distance of several kilometers, mainly for the at-grade intersection with motorway A28, and for the road's small alignment through the city in general. Both of the abovementioned sections are denoted as N7 to distinguish those parts from the motorway, for which the A designation is used in the Netherlands. The A7 together with the N7 is called the Rijksweg 7.

Speed limit experiment

From March 2011, on a section of the A7 motorway, motorists were allowed to drive at , opposed to the then national speed limit of . This was a government test to investigate if driving at these higher speeds have an effect on the environment and safety. The test resulted positively, and the national speed limit was raised to in October 2012.

Afsluitdijk

The A7 runs across a historic part of Dutch engineering, the

. This dam was originally created to protect the country's long interior coastline from floods by creating a large freshwater lake. The road over the Afsluitdijk was previously a 2-lane N road, but is now a proper motorway; the upgrade to motorway was achieved by utilising the dike's unused railway reservation for the second carriageway. Its midpoint is near the village of

Breezanddijk Breezanddijk ( fry, Breesândyk) is a small community that lies near the midpoint of the Afsluitdijk, part of the A7 motorway (Netherlands), A7 motorway, in the Netherlands. It is located on a former artificial island which was created during the ...

. The former State Secretary for Infrastructure and the Environment,

Joop Atsma Johannes Jan "Joop" Atsma (born 6 July 1956) is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and sport administrator. He has been a Senate (Netherlands), Member of the Senate since 9 June 2015. Biography Joop Atsma is the so ...

, issued a statement detailing the factors influencing the decision to build a new

naviduct A naviduct is a special class of navigable aqueduct, in which the waterway also includes a lock. One example of a naviduct has been built at Enkhuizen on the Houtribdijk in the Netherlands on the instructions of the Rijkswaterstaat. This cost ove ...

on the

section of the A7 at

Kornwerderzand Kornwerderzand ( West Frisian: Koarnwertersân) is a village on the Afsluitdijk, a major dam in the Netherlands that links Friesland with North Holland. Overview Kornwerderzand is located approximately 4 kilometers from the coast of Friesland, on ...

. A naviduct and new locks was costed at €200–450 million, depending on the size of locks and size of highway. A naviduct would give waiting time annualised benefits €13 million to road traffic, based on the existing bridge opening 7,000 times a year.

Cost–benefit analysis Cost–benefit analysis (CBA), sometimes also called benefit–cost analysis, is a systematic approach to estimating the strengths and weaknesses of alternatives. It is used to determine options which provide the best approach to achieving benefits ...

of all potential solutions were considered, and a naviduct could be built to replace the locks when they reach the end of their useful life in 2050.

Exit list

References

External links

{{Motorways in the Netherlands Motorways in the Netherlands Motorways in Friesland Motorways in Groningen (province) Motorways in North Holland Transport in Groningen (city) Transport in Midden-Groningen Transport in Oldambt (municipality)