European Roads does a video on N18 in Netherlands

[bing101]

This route is a two lane freeway for the most of the video though but its an interesting ride though.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULIW2OcSKqU

[Kniwt]

Interesting stuff. A few items seem to stand out:

- Most of the structures on the two-lane section don't seem to be designed for easy expansion to four lanes. Seems like a bizarre choice, unless that had to be one of the restrictions to allow the road to be built.

- That's a long way with no passing lanes. Are the tiny pullouts supposed to be used by slow(er) vehicles, or just breakdown areas? That semi seemed to be building up a line of cars behind it but never pulled over.

- After the road went to four lanes, the other drivers seemed to immediately get much more aggressive!

ETA: Oh, and one more thing:

- In America, even our brand-new highways are never that silky-smooth and immaculate!

[Chris]

I recorded that video :-)

The road was built to alleviate safety problems on the old two-lane road. Traffic flow was never a key consideration, hence the long single lane section where a passing lane would be nice (or four lanes all the way). This is in Eastern Netherlands, which has a low priority for investments by the national government. But they couldn't ignore the safety issues of the old road any longer.

The pullouts are breakdown niches. The shoulder is also semi-hardened, so that if a vehicle gets off the road, it doesn't get stuck and crash out of control in the soft soil.

It's interesting how quick they built this road. The entire road is a new alignment, but it was built in only 14 months, from early 2017 to May 2, 2018. Even in the last month a massive amount of work was done.

Dutch roads are funded through the Infrastructure Fund. This means that when a project is funded, all money is available to complete it as fast as possible, all in a single contract. This means they don't have to wait for tranches of funding being allocated to the project, or separate contracts for each type of work. If the project costs € 200 million, they have € 200 million available from day 1, and not € 50 million per year to complete it in 4 years.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

Fixed subject title .

ETA: Oh, and one more thing:

- In America, even our brand-new highways are never that silky-smooth and immaculate!

Since the terrorist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (Bansque Country and Liberty) is finally officially gone, I'm no longer frowning upon seeing the initials ETA meaning something else. This is the first time this happens (here meaning "Edited To Add").

[nexus73]

We could use 2-lane divided freeways/expressways here in the USA as the amount of distracted drivers crossing the center line and getting in major wrecks is such a problem. 

That was the most beautiful 2-lane freeway I have ever seen but given that the land is flat and needed easements are relatively narrow, why not build as a 4-lane facility?  It is not challenging terrain and conditions that need to be faced.

Rick