The 2024 traffic jam top 10: road congestion continues to increase
Rush hour crowds a big problem
Why are there more traffic jams? That’s not rocket science: it’s simply busier on the road. “The biggest cause of traffic jams is no different from previous years. Still three-quarters of the traffic jams are due to congestion during rush hour, from Monday to Friday, between 07:00-09:00 and between 16:00-18:00,” said Rijkswaterstaat.
Tuesdays and Thursdays
“We still find the worst rush hour on Tuesdays and Thursdays. However, there is a small increase in the proportion of traffic jams caused by works. This involves both planned maintenance and emergency work. Because of the major maintenance task we face, the expectation is that disruption due to work will continue to increase in the coming years.”
The “top-10 congestion locations” did not change much from 2023. For example, the top-5 is the same as last year. There are three new locations in the top-10.
Newcomers to the top 10:
- The A59 ‘s-Hertogenbosch – Zonzeel interchange at Hooipolder interchange;
- The A15 Ridderkerk – Gorinchem between Sliedrecht-West and Sliedrecht-East;
- The A1 Amersfoort – Apeldoorn between Hoevelaken interchange and Barneveld interchange.
Philetop-10 and solutions:
1. A16: Breda – Rotterdam
KP Terbregseplein near Rotterdam Prins-Alexander
Project A16 Rotterdam (project is underway)
2. A20: Hoek van Holland – Gouda
Rotterdam-Schiebroek – Rotterdam-Crooswijk
Project A16 Rotterdam (project is underway)
3. A1: Apeldoorn – Amersfoort
KP Barneveld – KP Hoevelaken
Project A28/A1 KP Hoevelaken and project A1/A30 Barneveld (project is paused)
4. A4: The Hague – Rotterdam
Delft – KP Kethelplein
Project A4 Haaglanden – N14 (project has been paused)
5. A20: Gouda – Hoek van Holland
Moordrecht – Nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel
Project A20 Nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel – KP Gouwe (project in progress).
6. A59: ‘s-Hertogenbosch – KP Zonzeel
At KP Hooipolder
Project A27 Houten – Hooipolder (project is in progress).
7. A50: Arnhem – Oss
KP Bankhoef – Ravenstein
Project A50 Ewijk – Bankhoef Paalgraven (project is paused)
8. A15: Ridderkerk – Gorinchem
Between Sliedrecht-West and Sliedrecht-East
Project A15 Papendrecht-Gorinchem (project is paused)
9. A2: Eindhoven – ‘s-Hertogenbosch
On parallel lane at KP Empel
Project A2 Deil – ‘s-Hertogenbosch – Vught (project is paused)
10. A1: Amersfoort – Apeldoorn
KP Hoevelaken – KP Barneveld
Project A28/A1 KP Hoevelaken and project A1/A30 Barneveld (project is paused)
Traffic jams on the sections A27 Gorinchem – Breda at the Merwedebrug in both directions and the southern ring road of Amsterdam from junction de Nieuwe Meer and junction Amstel no longer appear in the traffic jam top-10.
Curious about the complete National Highway Network 2024 report? You can find it here.
| Subject | Definition | Result 2023 | Result 2024 | Rate of increase |
| Traffic performance | Amount of kilometers traveled by all residents of the Netherlands in one year. | 69.4 billion vehicle kilometers | 71.3 billion vehicle kilometers | 2,7% |
| Annual traffic jam heaviness | Also called congestion pressure. It is the average traffic jam length times the duration of the traffic jam. It is expressed in mile minutes per year. | 19.5 million mileage minutes | 21.8 million kilometer minutes | 11,7% |
| Share of traffic jams due to work | There are eight causes of congestion. Construction and planned maintenance along with unplanned maintenance make up the share of congestion caused by works. | 5,5% | 6,9% | 1,4% |
| Travel time loss | The amount of hours that road users collectively had to travel extra, for example due to traffic jams or road works. This is expressed in vehicle loss hours (VVU) | 96.4 million vehicle loss hours | 101.3 million vehicle loss hours | 5,1% |