The Netherlands was one of the first countries to construct freeways in the 1930s, by World War II, the Netherlands had the largest freeway network in Europe after Germany, in fact it may have had the third-longest freeway network in the world at that time (after the U.S. & Germany).
However car ownership was still pretty low at that time. Car ownership exploded after World War II, there was a brief period of time, especially in the 1950s and early 1960s, when almost everything was still centered in the historic town and city squares, which turned into large parking lots. However later in the 1960s, new suburban neighborhoods were built and the importance of city centers declined significantly, this also gave the opportunity to shift car usage mainly to those new areas and pedestrianize old towns.
It should be noted that the Netherlands has had the largest population growth in Europe after World War II, the population grew from 9.3 million in 1945 to 15.5 million by 1995. Highway construction initially kept pace with this large population growth, but it started to lag after the 1980s. A major change occurred in the early 1990s when women entered the workforce, female labor participation changed very rapidly in only a few years. As a result, the vehicle miles traveled exploded during the 1990s. On some motorways the traffic volume doubled in less than 15 years.
It was forecasted in the early 2000s that the Dutch population growth would slow significantly. However due to mass migration, population growth continued and the projection of 17 million inhabitants was achieved in less than half the time experts thought it would. The Dutch population is still growing by a million people each decade and population projections have shifted upward to over 20 million.
This is a small country and this scale of growth has proven unsustainable in many areas: natural values, traffic congestion, public transport overcrowding, even bike lane overcrowding is a thing. There is a huge housing crisis ongoing, housing prices have essentially doubled in a decade while incomes did not, making it practically impossible for young people to get into the housing market. I know several 30-somethings that have a stable, good-paying job, but live with their parents because they cannot find a house.