Car-free city center in the next gear: 42 million for a series of traffic measures

The Stationsweg and the Steenstraat will be transformed into a bicycle and pedestrian area. (Impressions: Visualization King)

By closing the Rijnzicht Bridge and the Turfmarkt to through car traffic, the municipality of Leiden is taking the next step in making the city center car-free. Councilor Ashley North calls this ‘smart cuts’.

“With this decision we want to realize many agreements from the coalition agreement. We are making major interventions on the traffic network with the aim of making traffic safer and more livable in more neighborhoods in Leiden. A city with clean air and where the economy is flourishing. We are working hard on this in Leiden, and that is necessary because some neighborhoods have been waiting too long for solutions.”

With the ‘Green Runners Leiden’ decision, as it has been called, the council wants to take a major step towards achieving a safe, healthy, liveable and economically vital city. “For now and certainly for generations to come. This is necessary, because Leiden is becoming increasingly busy and the climate is changing. That brings challenges. The decision that has been made not only improves the quality of life and road safety in Transvaal, the station area and the city center, but also provides solutions for ‘focus locations’ in other places in the city,” says North.

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Councilor Ashley North about the traffic measures that the council decided on on Tuesday.

An impression of the Morsweg as that street should look from 2026.

In the coming years, Leiden will be working on a whole series of measures, for which a total of 42 million euros has been allocated. The Morsweg will be the first at the end of next year. This will be a bicycle street where car traffic is no longer welcome. However, buses will continue to run. The street is partly being greened, but there is not much room for additional trees. For facade gardens.

In the future, car and bus traffic will also no longer be part of the street scene around the Beestenmarkt. However, there remains room during window times for emission-free supplies to shops and catering establishments.

Green carpet
An important part of the plans is also the entrance to the center from Leiden Central Station. In recent years it has been said that Leiden wants to roll out the red carpet there for everyone who visits Leiden by train. “That is still the case, but the color will be green,” says North. “The area is really undergoing a metamorphosis, with traffic being banned and a lot of greenery being added.”

North: “A bus-free Stationsweg should not only significantly improve road safety, but it also opens the door to a full-fledged entrance to our city center. We are creating a traffic-calmed green carpet from the station via Steenstraat and Beestenmarkt to Haarlemmerstraat and via Prinsessekade and Kort Rapenburg to Breestraat.

West side
Due to the measures being taken in the center, traffic is moving to new routes. This would lead to problems, especially on the west side of Leiden, if adjustments are not made there. So they will come too. At the Churchilllaan and the Haagsche Schouwweg, for example, around the Hoge and Lage Mors. In the Stevenshof, the roundabout at the Van der Valk hotel will be replaced by an intersection with traffic lights. At the intersection of Plesmanlaan and Haagsche Schouwweg there will be a so-called ‘diverging diamond intersection’. Leiden has previously gained experience with this concept, which came over from the United States, at the ‘Knoop Leiden West’ a little further away. There was such a special intersection there for several years during the work on the connections with the A44.

It is expected that all plans from the framework decision ‘Green runners Leiden; Safe streets, liveable neighborhoods, clean air and a vital city center’ discussed on June 6 in the Livability and Accessibility Committee. After this, it could be adopted in the municipal council of June 13, 2024. All projects must be completed by 2032.

Leiden Company Car-free City Center