Port of Rotterdam gets Traffic Management Company
Today the Dutch government, the Port of Rotterdam Authority and the regional authority founded a traffic management company. This should help to relieve some of the traffic problems on the A15 motorway, and thus keep the port accessible. As far as anyone knows, Rotterdam is the first European port with this kind of organisation that also transcends geographical and local government boundaries.
The founding agreement was signed by Camiel Eurlings (Dutch Minister of Transport, Public Works and Water Management), Hans Smits (CEO of the Port of Rotterdam Authority), and Jeanette Baljeu (alderman of the city of Rotterdam and person responsible for traffic policy in the city and the region). The CEO of the new Traffic Management Company is Laurens Schrijnen, who previously worked for the national Ministry of Transport.
The Traffic Management Company will work along two lines:
- Traffic management: involves measures to make optimal use of the existing road capacity in the port area. This can be done for instance by rapid clearing of accident scenes. As of three months ago, inspectors have expanded their working area from just the highway to also include all the roads in the port area. Experience to date has shown that this leads to incidents being dealt with more rapidly. Also, height detection in tunnels will be improved, so that there are fewer false alarms and unnecessary stops.
- Mobility management: involves measures to reduce the number of private cars on the road during peak hours. The Traffic Management Company is striving to reduce this by 20 percent. Possible measures include the expansion of public transport, encouraging people to travel outside of peak hours (by means of incentives) and restricting cargo transport to the evenings and at night.
The Traffic Management Company will also open a desk for any questions and ideas with regard to traffic and transportation on and around the A15. It will be responsible for initiating promotions and new measures.
The four founders are providing the manpower and the financial capacity for the company. The Traffic Management Company has an Advisory Board, on which Deltalinqs (representative body for companies in the port), the neighbouring municipality of Spijkenisse, the Chamber of Commerce, the TLN (national organisation for road transporters) and the EVO (the national shippers' organisation) sit.
The founding agreement was signed by Camiel Eurlings (Dutch Minister of Transport, Public Works and Water Management), Hans Smits (CEO of the Port of Rotterdam Authority), and Jeanette Baljeu (alderman of the city of Rotterdam and person responsible for traffic policy in the city and the region). The CEO of the new Traffic Management Company is Laurens Schrijnen, who previously worked for the national Ministry of Transport.
The Traffic Management Company will work along two lines:
- Traffic management: involves measures to make optimal use of the existing road capacity in the port area. This can be done for instance by rapid clearing of accident scenes. As of three months ago, inspectors have expanded their working area from just the highway to also include all the roads in the port area. Experience to date has shown that this leads to incidents being dealt with more rapidly. Also, height detection in tunnels will be improved, so that there are fewer false alarms and unnecessary stops.
- Mobility management: involves measures to reduce the number of private cars on the road during peak hours. The Traffic Management Company is striving to reduce this by 20 percent. Possible measures include the expansion of public transport, encouraging people to travel outside of peak hours (by means of incentives) and restricting cargo transport to the evenings and at night.
The Traffic Management Company will also open a desk for any questions and ideas with regard to traffic and transportation on and around the A15. It will be responsible for initiating promotions and new measures.
The four founders are providing the manpower and the financial capacity for the company. The Traffic Management Company has an Advisory Board, on which Deltalinqs (representative body for companies in the port), the neighbouring municipality of Spijkenisse, the Chamber of Commerce, the TLN (national organisation for road transporters) and the EVO (the national shippers' organisation) sit.