Two days NATO summit, months of traffic nuisance in The Hague

How many traffic controllers will be deployed in The Hague in the coming months? Jelmer Keijts, project leader accessibility of the municipality, hesitates a number to call.

The NATO summit at the end of June is one of superlatives: 6,000 delegation members expect the city, 2,000 journalists, ministers and government leaders from forty countries-including US President Trump. 27,000 agents are deployed, 10,000 soldiers. 30,000 meters of cables are laid, five kilometers of fencing.

In three zones in The Hague, the two days of the top applies an emergency regulation, Mayor Jan van Zanen announced on Wednesday. That means that you should not be there during the top without accreditation or, as a resident or registered visitor, without showing your proof of identity. You can still swim or surf in the sea, but not sail with a motor boat.

The fourth area with an emergency ordinance is slowly closing this weekend. First the Johan de Wittlaan, where the World Forum is located. It is too small for such a big top, and that is why temporary buildings are placed on the road. The trees have already been moved, the masts with the flags of all UN member states too. Only those of the NATO member states come back.

An area with an emergency regulation will close from this weekend; First the Johan de Wittlaan, where the World Forum is located.

Photo Walter Autumn

Main road

But the Johan de Wittlaan is also one of the few main roads of The Hague, which has no ring road. Project leader Keijts says that there are 14,000 cars and trucks to Leiden every day, 17,000 in the other way, to Kijkduin and the Westland. « You don’t want to have that through a residential area. » Hence the diversion routes and traffic controllers.

For the neighborhood the problems are practical in nature. In the café of Fotomuseum KM21, for example, an older gentleman with Pijp wants to know if he can still take bus 21. The municipality will have a walk -in consultation hour every Wednesday afternoon in the coming weeks. This first Wednesday there is a steady electricity.

Corinne den Heijer, project leader environment, draws the bus route on a map: « What should you get out of it? » He says that his wife does volunteer work on the Scheveningseweg. Den Heijer says: « The bus keeps driving, but with a detour. You can see another side of the neighborhood. » He takes a few extra cards with him: « For the neighbors. »

For the lady of 90 who gets a table-deck meals four times a week, we will of course come up with something

Den Heijer says that the NATO summit « is going to live » through the closure. There had already been information meetings, and she and her team visited the residents who live in the area that is the week before the top safety zone. She says, « There are things that you don’t have on your retina. »

As an example, she mentions the ban on meal delivery for residents in the zone. The emergency regulation is that it is forbidden to bring or have closed packages, bags, suitcases and bags in the area of ​​the NATO summit. Den Heijer says: « We don’t want everyone to order pizza. » But then a lady of 90 reported who gets a table-deck meal four times a week. « Of course we will come up with something for that. »

Den Heijer says that it is her job to think along with residents to limit the nuisance. During the previous Grote Top, the Nuclear Security Summit in 2014, which was held in the same place, for example, she had a cake delivered to someone who was exactly then his birthday and could not give a party. That customization, according to the evaluation of that top, was « essential » for support.

Pharmacy

On this afternoon, Den Heijer thinks along with a pharmacy that must remain available, with two people who want to cooperate in the top – who refers them to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that acts as the host of the top – and with a local resident who fears the parking ban on both sides of his street in combination with a school.

Again, project leader Keijts takes the card. Dick Schoorel points to: there is already a plate and there. And he has an extra question: « Does the cycle path remain open? » The answer is affirmative.

« I understand that it is emergency regulation area, » says Schoorel, retired civil servant. « I am also before the arrival of the top. And I realize that it is very complex for the municipality to organize this. I am curious if it will not be chaos. »

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Photo Walter Autumn

Photo Walter Autumn

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Photo Walter Autumn

Photo Walter Autumn

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Photo Walter Autumn

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Photo Walter Autumn

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The Johan de Wittlaan is closing, but is also one of the few main roads of The Hague.

Photos Walter Autumn

In any case, there is a nuisance for The Hague. Now that the through Johan de Wittlaan is closed, the crowds are coming elsewhere, says Keijts. And that for four months, even after the NATO summit, the road will remain closed until the temporary buildings have been demolished. The House of Representatives has already indicated to limit meetings, the court will not schedule any cases that require extra safety measures, and PostNL and funeral directors, among others, take extra travel time into account.

King’s Day

Not only in The Hague. All entrances and exits of government and provincial roads to and from the city can also be temporarily and partially closed in the Week of the Top, Rijkswaterstaat reported Thursday. This also applies to roads around the airports of Rotterdam and Schiphol, and from hotels in Wassenaar, Katwijk, Noordwijk and Leiden, such as the A44 and the N44.

Director Robert-Jaap Voorn of Rijkswaterstaat told ANP news agency that people should take into account « with a triple of normal traffic crowds during rush hour ». The central government calls on people to avoid the Randstad on the week of the NATO summit if possible.

The rest of the Netherlands will also notice that the top is there. Municipalities have been requested to limit events where police deployment is needed « as much as possible ». The planned events, which always take place on a fixed day and do not take place in the week of the top, such as King’s Day, the Four Days Marches of Nijmegen and the Zwarte Cross, are not bothered by the NATO summit. The police could take this into account in the schedules.

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