In the Netherlands, we will continue to drive at a maximum of 100 kilometers per hour during the day, says Minister Van der Wal for Nature and Nitrogen. The cabinet does not intend to change this now that a judge in Haarlem ruled last Friday that the reduction of the maximum speed on the highway from 130 to 100 kilometers per hour can no longer be used to be able to emit more nitrogen elsewhere.
According to Van der Wal, it remains “desperately necessary” for nature to keep the speed at 100 during the day. “We no longer use it legally, but it does a lot for nature.”
Rutte called the measure a real one when it was announced in November 2019. “rotten measure” which he “was really upset about”. But the cabinet was forced to introduce the measure to, among other things, keep housing construction going. The speed measure created so-called ‘nitrogen space’ and governments have so far been able to give the green light for around 33,000 homes.
However, due to the judge’s ruling last week, this nitrogen space is no longer sufficient. With that, the future of permits for tens of thousands of homes has become uncertainand the enormous task for the cabinet how to solve the housing shortage has become even more complicated.
‘All electric driving’
Earlier this month, Van der Wal expressed all her doubts about the legal sustainability of the nitrogen gains due to less speeding. That profit proved difficult to determine, because the number of cars on the road is not always the same, for example during the corona crisis.
In addition, not all nitrogen-sensitive Natura 2000 areas were found to benefit from the measure. Because motorists sometimes take other roads, which run closer to vulnerable areas, the nitrogen precipitation on some of those nature reserves actually increases.
Still, Van der Wal thinks that the lower speed in general “does something for nature”. Reducing the maximum speed to 100 kilometers per hour at night is not necessary, according to her, but during the day back to 130 kilometers per hour is “really not an option for a very long time”. “We should substantiate that and we really can’t.”
According to her, the cabinet is working hard on solutions for the complicated nitrogen crisis. It may take years before we can really do everything again, according to the nature minister. And the speed up again? If we all drive electrically, then that might be possible again, thinks Van der Wal.
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