A7 motorway (Netherlands)

The A7 motorway is a motorway in the Netherlands connecting Zaandam, via the Afsluitdijk, Sneek and Groningen to the German border near Bad Nieuweschans. The entire road is part of the European route E22, with exception of the first kilometre, between the terminus in Zaandam and the interchange Zaandam. With a length of 236 km it is the longest motorway in the Netherlands.

Motorway interruptions

The motorway A7 is interrupted twice:

• Around Sneek, the road is 'demoted' to a highway for several kilometres, and included some at-grade intersections, the at-grade intersections were replaced with grade separated intersections in 2008–2010, however, it isn't a motorway.
• Also around the city of Groningen it is demoted over a distance of several kilometres, mainly for the at-grade intersection with motorway A28, and for the road's small alignment through the city in general.

Both of the abovementioned sections are denoted as 'N7', to distinguish those parts from the motorway, for which the 'A' designation is used in the Netherlands. The A7 together with the N7 is called the Rijksweg 7.

Westbound N7 near Groningen.

Interruption of the A7 in Groningen.

Speed limit experiment

From March 2011, on a section of the A7 motorway, motorists were allowed to drive at 130 km/h, opposed to the then national speed limit of 120 km/h. This was a government test to investigate if driving at these higher speeds have an effect on the environment and safety. The test resulted positively, and the national speed limit was raised to 130 km/h in October 2012.

Afsluitdijk

The A7 runs across a historic part of Dutch engineering, the Afsluitdijk. This dam was originally created to protect the country's long interior coastline from floods by creating a large freshwater lake. The road over the Afsluitdijk was previously a 2-lane N road, but is now a proper motorway; the upgrade to motorway was achieved by utilising the dike's unused railway reservation for the second carriageway. Its midpoint is near the village of Breezanddijk. The former State Secretary for Infrastructure and the Environment, Joop Atsma, issued a statement detailing the factors influencing the decision to build a new naviduct on the Afsluitdijk section of the A7 at Kornwerderzand. A naviduct and new locks was costed at €200–450 million, depending on the size of locks and size of highway. A naviduct would give waiting time annualised benefits €13 million to road traffic, based on the existing bridge opening 7,000 times a year. Cost–benefit analysis of all potential solutions were considered, and a naviduct could be built to replace the locks when they reach the end of their useful life in 2050.^[1]

Exit list

Province	Municipality	km.	#	Name	Roads	Notes
North Holland	Zaanstad	4		Zaandam		Terminus at roundabout in Zaandam.
		5		Interchange Zaandam	A8
		7	2	Zaandijk		For Zaanse Schans
	Wormerland	11	3	Wijdewormer
	Purmerend	14	4	Purmerend-South	N235
		15	5	Purmerend
		17	6	Purmerend-North	N244
	Koggenland	29	7	Avenhorn/Hoorn-West	N243, N247
	Hoorn	32	8	Hoorn
		34	9	Hoorn-North	N302
	Medemblik	36	10	Wognum	N241
		39	10a	Abbekerk
		43	11	Medemblik	N239
	Wieringermeer	50	12	Middenmeer	N242
		55	13	Wieringerwerf	N240, N248
	Wieringen	64	14	Den Oever	N99
Afsluitdijk (midpoint at Breezanddijk)
Friesland	Súdwest Fryslân	97	–	Kornwerderzand
		101		Interchange Zurich	A31
		101	15	Zurich
		105	16	Witmarsum
		110	17	Bolsward-North	N359
		112	18	Bolsward-East
		115	19	Nijland
		Gap in motorway A7; the road continues as highway N7 as follows:
		118	20	Sneek-West
		119	21	Sneek-South	N354
		119	21a	Sneek-Woudvaart		Westbound exit and eastbound entrance only
		120	22	Sneek-East
		The road continues as motorway A7 as follows:
	Skarsterlân	133	23	Joure-West
		136		Interchange Joure	A6
		140	25	Oudehaske
	Heerenveen	142	26	Heerenveen-West		Westbound exit and eastbound entrance only
		144		Interchange Heerenveen	A32
		147	26a	Tjalleberd
	Opsterland	152	27	Gorredijk
		158	28	Beetsterzwaag
	Smallingerland	161	29	Drachten-Centrum		Centrum means (town) centre
		165	30	Oosterwolde	N381
		165	30a	Drachten	N31
	Opsterland	170	31	Frieschepalen	N358
Groningen	Marum	176	32	Marum
		180	33	Boerakker	N388
	Leek	184	34	Leek	N372
	Groningen	191	34a	Westpoort (Groningen)
		193	35	Hoogkerk	N372
		Gap in motorway A7; the road continues as highway N7 as follows:
		196	36	Ring Groningen-West	N370
		196	36a	Martini hospital		Westbound exit only (Martini hospital accessible from other directions via 36)
		197		Intersection Julianaplein	A28
		198	37	Helpman
		198	37a	Oosterpoort		Eastbound exit and westbound entrance only
		199	38	Europaplein
		204		Interchange Euvelgunne	N46
		205	39	Westerbroek
		The road continues as motorway A7 as follows:
	Hoogezand-Sappemeer	213	40	Foxhol	N386
		215	41	Hoogezand	N387
		218	42	Sappemeer
	Menterwolde	222	43	Zuidbroek
		224	44	Noordbroek	N33
	Scheemda	230	45	Scheemda	N362
		232	46	Heiligerlee
	Winschoten	240	47	Winschoten	N367
	Bellingwedde	246	48	Oudeschans
	Reiderland	251	49	Bad Nieuweschans
Border with Germany; this road continues as the German A280.

References

External links

Media related to Rijksweg 7 at Wikimedia Commons

Motorways in the Netherlands A1 A2 N3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9 A10 N11 A12 A13 N14 A15 A16 A17 A18 A20 A22 A27 A28 A29 A30 A31 A32 N33 A35 N36 A37 A38 A44 A50 N57 A58 A59 N61 A65 A67 A73 A76 A77 A79 N99 A200 A208 A256 A261 A270 A325 A326 A348