Rijkswaterstaat road closures and funding halt affect Dutch highways

Rijkswaterstaat will carry out night‑time maintenance on the A12 and A18 near the German border in June 2024. Closures are scheduled for several nights between 9 June and 25 June, with the main interruption on 11 June from 21:00 to 05:00 when the A12 toward Germany is closed between Velperbroek and Beek. Drivers are rerouted via the A348, N317 and the A18, and are advised to allow extra travel time.

The agency also announced that, because its budget has been exhausted, major road‑maintenance projects in the northern provinces of Groningen, Friesland and Drenthe will be stopped for the coming years. Work on the A7, A28 and N33 and four large projects in Friesland, amounting to €30‑100 million, will not proceed. In total, 92 km of asphalt, 130 km of roads and over 100 km of guardrails, plus 94 viaducts and underpasses, will remain unrestored. The shortfall is attributed to limited funds from the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, which has €2.8 billion available for annual road upkeep.