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The A2 motorway no longer divides Maastricht

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Re: The A2 motorway no longer divides Maastricht

#31

Post by roel_v »

Infernal wrote: post #3
apexalpha wrote: post #2

My hometown! Cool to see it on HN. Maastricht uses to be the only traffic lights on route from Amsterdam to Paris. Yes. Traffic lights on a highway, in the middle of a city. As if the highway in the middle of a city wasn't annoyinh enough the traffic lights added some extra noise, fumes and pollution. The new tunnel has been the most magnificent change I've ever seen. And IIRC the entire project was within budget and…

> And IIRC the entire project was within budget From TFA, "the one billion euro project is still ongoing, it will not be finished before 2026." There's plenty of time yet!

That's only for finishing the park on top, and the new parks in the vicinity that are being build in one big project but that don't really have anything to do with the tunnel per se. The tunnels and all the connector roads are done now.

Re: The A2 motorway no longer divides Maastricht

#32

Post by Tomte »

gambiting wrote: post #25
apexalpha wrote: post #2

My hometown! Cool to see it on HN. Maastricht uses to be the only traffic lights on route from Amsterdam to Paris. Yes. Traffic lights on a highway, in the middle of a city. As if the highway in the middle of a city wasn't annoyinh enough the traffic lights added some extra noise, fumes and pollution. The new tunnel has been the most magnificent change I've ever seen. And IIRC the entire project was within budget and…

>>Maastricht uses to be the only traffic lights on route from Amsterdam to Paris. Yes. Traffic lights on a highway, in the middle of a city Sounds like the beautiful little town of Bad Oeynhausen, which I came to loathe(a bit) - I used to drive several times a year from Amsterdam to Krakow(~1300km) and literally the moment you got off the ferry in Amsterdam you were on the motorway literally all the way to Krakow....…

After decades the road work has been finished and the missing link between Autobahn 2 and Autobahn 30 is finally in place.

It leads you around the town and it saves at least 20 minutes.

Re: The A2 motorway no longer divides Maastricht

#33

Post by Tomte »

logicchains wrote: post #30
gambiting wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>Maastricht uses to be the only traffic lights on route from Amsterdam to Paris. Yes. Traffic lights on a highway, in the middle of a city Sounds like the beautiful little town of Bad Oeynhausen, which I came to loathe(a bit) - I used to drive several times a year from Amsterdam to Krakow(~1300km) and literally the moment you got off the ferry in Amsterdam you were on the motorway literally all the way to Krakow....…

>Bad Oeynhausen Town name checks out?

Bad means spa.

Re: The A2 motorway no longer divides Maastricht

#34

Post by Symbiote »

varjag wrote: post #24
Merrill wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Google satellite view, there appears to be a railway about 400 meters west which similarly divides the city. Will that be buried as well?

Nearly every sizable European city has a through railway, it is super common here. They are rarely any obstacle.

No: they are often obstacles, but they've been obstacles since the 19th century, so we have adapted the city and forgotten.

They are often lesser obstacles, since they were built when all other traffic was on foot or by horse, and routes for people had to be maintained. Some motorways were built without this consideration, in the period of 20th century motorcar idealism.

Re: The A2 motorway no longer divides Maastricht

#35

Post by roel_v »

edejong wrote: post #26
dsfyu404ed wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Compare the culture of the respective locations and it's obvious why the Netherlands had the better outcome. The feedback loops are all wrong for getting a high value tunnel under Boston. They are at least less wrong in "beer Europe"[0] + Scandinavia. Massachusetts government "pays itself first" Massachusetts people consider the problem unsolvable and tolerates it. Netherlands and the adjacent parts of Europe (i.e I…

Love that illustration. Do you have a source? I'd like to pay attribution when I share it elsewhere.

It's from this book: https://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Prejudice-Chasing-Horizons-Vol/... .

Re: The A2 motorway no longer divides Maastricht

#36

Post by gambiting »

Tomte wrote: post #32
gambiting wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>Maastricht uses to be the only traffic lights on route from Amsterdam to Paris. Yes. Traffic lights on a highway, in the middle of a city Sounds like the beautiful little town of Bad Oeynhausen, which I came to loathe(a bit) - I used to drive several times a year from Amsterdam to Krakow(~1300km) and literally the moment you got off the ferry in Amsterdam you were on the motorway literally all the way to Krakow....…

After decades the road work has been finished and the missing link between Autobahn 2 and Autobahn 30 is finally in place. It leads you around the town and it saves at least 20 minutes.

Yeah, I'm looking at google maps now and it looks like you can just stay on the A30, drive around the entire town, and just take the exit to A2 - amazing. Almost a shame I'm not planning a trip anytime soon to experience it hahaha

Re: The A2 motorway no longer divides Maastricht

#37

Post by brnt »

gambiting wrote: post #25
apexalpha wrote: post #2

My hometown! Cool to see it on HN. Maastricht uses to be the only traffic lights on route from Amsterdam to Paris. Yes. Traffic lights on a highway, in the middle of a city. As if the highway in the middle of a city wasn't annoyinh enough the traffic lights added some extra noise, fumes and pollution. The new tunnel has been the most magnificent change I've ever seen. And IIRC the entire project was within budget and…

>>Maastricht uses to be the only traffic lights on route from Amsterdam to Paris. Yes. Traffic lights on a highway, in the middle of a city Sounds like the beautiful little town of Bad Oeynhausen, which I came to loathe(a bit) - I used to drive several times a year from Amsterdam to Krakow(~1300km) and literally the moment you got off the ferry in Amsterdam you were on the motorway literally all the way to Krakow....…

Oh, I was so happy this year that the highway around was finally opened. I thought I'd forever have to go through that town and pass Hans Wurst.

Re: The A2 motorway no longer divides Maastricht

#38

Post by lqet »

Similar problem in my home town, where the only major east/west highway across the black forest cuts the city in two [0] (they actually demolished parts of the old town which survived the WW2 bombings to build this road in the 60ies, which I just cannot wrap my head around). Seeing what they have done in Maastricht makes me very jealous! They already moved half of the highway here into a tunnel in the 90ies [1] and there are plans to start extending this tunnel in the next 5 years [2], but as the original plans already date back to the 80ies, it will most likely take another 20 years until the project is finished.

[0] https://www.stadttunnel-freiburg.de/sites/default/files/styl...

[1] http://www.daub-ita.de/fileadmin/images/daub/TunnelDB/UBD200...

[2] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freiburger_Stadttunnel

Re: The A2 motorway no longer divides Maastricht

#39

Post by jakobegger »

Sharlin wrote: post #28
brnt wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cars come with HEPA filters. Most (non-Asian) pedestrians don't.

Noise and particulate pollution are perhaps the most external of the negative externalities of automobiles, riders being mostly insulated from their own emissions and from those of their peers. It feels fundamentally unfair.

I don't think HEPA filters are of any use against NOx?
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