Amsterdam Makes a New Push to Keep Cars Out
The Dutch capital is proposing new restrictions on through-traffic as it redoubles efforts to keep cars from flooding the central city.
Amsterdam authorities are proposing a new round of vehicle restrictions to divert through-traffic to the A10 highway that loops around the city.
Photo by Paulo Amorim/NurPhoto via Getty Images
While Amsterdam’s well-known network of dedicated bicycle lanes have made cycling a swift and popular mode of transport across the Dutch capital, the city is not exactly the car-free paradise outsiders might assume. Among residents, automobiles still accounted for almost 20% of all journeys in Amsterdam in 2021 — and 55% of trips undertaken by visitors, according to the city. In a dense, older city with narrow streets and conflicting demands for access, this causes problems, notably for public transit in the central city, where trams and buses often struggle to make headway as they mix with cars.
In response, city leaders have been working to limit the number of private vehicles in this equation, by removing automobile parking spaces and banning car traffic on certain streets. Now Amsterdam is proposing a wider crackdown on cars criss-crossing its city center by closing sections of several streets to through-traffic — both to help clear street space and ultimately to wean citizens off the habit of treating the city core as a standard route across town.