A2 motorway (Netherlands)

The N2 through Maastricht.

The A2 motorway is a motorway in the Netherlands. It is one of the busiest highways in the Netherlands. The road connects the city of Amsterdam, near the interchange Amstel, with the Belgian border, near Maastricht (NL) and Liège (B), and the Belgian road A25.

The route of the A2 motorway is shared with two major European routes. Between its start, at the Interchange Amstel near Amsterdam, and the Interchange Oudenrijn near Utrecht, the E35 follows the A2 motorway. From the Interchange Oudenrijn towards the Belgian border just south of Maastricht, the European route E25 follows the route of the A2. The local and express lane on A2 has different speed limit. The speed limit on express lane is 120 km/h (75 mph) and local is 100 km/h (63 mph).

Road N2

Currently, the motorway A2 is interrupted at one location, near Maastricht. This section is being referred to as N2, to make a distinction between the motorway (A2) and the non-motorway (N2).

The N2 through Maastricht

Between the interchanges Kruisdonk and Europaplein through Maastricht, the motorway A2 is interrupted. This road section was built as a highway with several at-grade intersections with traffic lights. However, a tunnel underneath the city is under construction, to eliminate at-grade intersections.^[1]

The N2 around Eindhoven

The beltway around the city of Eindhoven, the so-called Randweg between the interchanges Ekkersweijer and Leenderheide, uses a system of local-express lanes. The inner two lanes do not have any exits, so it is exclusively for express traffic passing the city of Eindhoven; it is considered a motorway (A2) with a maximum speed of 120 km/h (75 mph). The outer two lanes are used by vehicles to and from Eindhoven and the neighbouring towns. It does not meet the Dutch standards of a motorway (steeper grades near intersections and smaller bend radiuses), and has a maximum speed of 80 km/h (50 mph). These outer lanes have road number N2, to distinguish the local lanes from the express lanes.^[2]

Other reconstruction projects

The A2 motorway was subject to multiple reconstruction projects. Next to the project around Eindhoven, as described above, the A2 was being rebuilt at the following locations:

Amsterdam - Utrecht

Between interchanges Holendrecht and Oudenrijn, the road has been widened from six (2x3) to ten (2x5) lanes. It has enough space to expand the road to fourteen (2x7) lanes. Near the city of Utrecht, a system of local-express lanes has been applied, with the inner three lanes serving express traffic, and the outer two lanes serving local traffic. Unlike the situation near Eindhoven, the motorway status is maintained for local lanes, which means that all ten lanes will keep the name A2.^[3][4]

Utrecht - 's-Hertogenbosch

Between interchanges Oudenrijn and Everdingen, the A2 was expanded to 2x4 lanes. Between interchanges Everdingen and Deil, the road is widened from four (2x2) to eight lanes (2x4); the section between interchanges Deil and Empel was expanded from four to six lanes.^[5]

's-Hertogenbosch beltway

The A2 around the city of 's-Hertogenbosch was rebuilt similarly to the future situation near Utrecht. However, there are only just four express lanes, instead of the six near Utrecht, so the road has 4x2 lanes.^[6]

's-Hertogenbosch - Eindhoven

Since both the 's-Hertogenbosch and Eindhoven beltways were finished in 2009, a new bottleneck appeared between both cities. The motorway has only 2x2 lanes while both beltways are having twice the capacity. Construction of expanding this section to 2x3 lanes started on December 13, 2011. ^[7]

Exit list

Country	Province	Municipality	km	mi	Exit	Destinations	Notes
The Netherlands	North Holland	Amsterdam	31	19	—	A10	North end of E 35 overlap
		Ouder-Amstel	33	21	1	N522
		Amsterdam	36	22	2	A9
	Utrecht	Abcoude	39	24	3
		De Ronde Venen	44	27	4	N201
		Breukelen	50	31	5
		Utrecht	57	35	6	N230
			60	37	7
			62	39	8	N198
			64	40	—	E 25 / E 35 / A12	South end of E 35 overlap; north end of E 25 overlap
		Nieuwegein	68	42	9	N210
			71	44	10
		Vianen	72	45	11
			74	46	—	A27
			79	49	12	N483 / N484
	Gelderland	Culemborg	81	50	13	N320
		Geldermalsen	85	53	14
			88	55	15	N327
					91	A15
		Neerijnen	94	58	16	N830	Gap in km near Waalbrug
		Zaltbommel	102	63	17	N322
		Maasdriel	105	65	18
			107	66	19	N831
	North Brabant	's-Hertogenbosch	112	70	—	A59	North end of A59 overlap
			113	70	20
			115	71	—	A59	South end of A59 overlap
		Veghel	117	73	21	N279
		Schijndel	119	74	22	N617
		Vught	120	75	—	A65	Southbound exit and northbound entrance only
			121	75	23	N65	Northbound exit and southbound entrance only
			123	76	24
		Boxtel	127	79	25
			132	82	26
		Best	138	86	27
			141	88	28
		Eindhoven	143– 12	89– 7.5	—	A50	Gap in km due to connection with A50
			13– 154	8.1– 96	—	E 312 / A58	Gap in km due to connection with A58
			156	97	29
			157	98	30
		Veldhoven	159	99	31
					31a		Under construction
			162	101	32
		Eindhoven	163– 19	101– 12	—	E 34 / A67	Gap in km due to connection with A67; west end of A67 and E 34 overlap
			20	12	32a
			22	14	33	N69
			23– 170	14– 110	—	E 34 / A67	Gap in km due to connection with A67; east end of A67 and E 34 overlap
		Valkenswaard	176	109	34	N396
		Heeze-Leende	178	111	35		Northbound exit and southbound entrance only
		Cranendonck	183	114	36
			185	115	37
	Limburg	Weert	189	117	38
		Nederweert	194	121	39	N275	Gap in km
		Leudal	206	128	40	N280
			213	132	41	N273
		Maasgouw	216	134	42		Northbound exit and southbound entrance only
			218	135	43		Southbound exit and northbound entrance only
		Echt-Susteren	220	140	44	N276
			221	137	—	A73	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
			224	139	45
			228	142	46	N296
		Sittard-Geleen	232	144	47	N297
		Stein	239	149	48	N294
			241	150	—	A76
			243	151	49
Meerssen		246	153	50
		250	160	51		Southbound exit and northbound entrance only
Maastricht		254	158	—	A79	Northbound exit and southbound entrance only
				—	Viaductweg	North end of N2 road designation
				—	Scharnerweg	South end of N2 road designation
		262	163	—	N278
		263	163	55		Southbound exit and northbound entrance only
Eijsden		265	165	56
		268	167	57		Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		270	170	58		Northbound exit and southbound entrance only
Limburg (NL)/ Limburg (BE) province line	Eijsden / Voeren municipality line			—	E 25 / A25	Border with Belgium; this road continues as the Belgian A25; south end of E 25 overlap
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       Incomplete access       Route transition       Unopened

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rijksweg 2.

Motorways in the Netherlands
A1 A2/N2 N3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9 A10 N11 A12 A13 N14 A15/A18 A16 A17 A20
A22 A27 A28 A29 A30 A31/N31 A32/N32 N33 A35 N36 A37 A38 A44/N44 A50 N57 A58/N58 A59/N59
N61 A65 A67 A73 A74 A76 A77 A79 N99 A200 N208 A256 A261 A270 A325 A326 A348