Rijksweg 73
Autosnelweg A73 in the Netherlands | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Overall length: | 106 km | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Course of the road
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The Rijksweg 73 (abbreviation: RW 73 ) - also: Autosnelweg 73 (abbreviation: A73 ) - is a Dutch motorway . It runs for 106 kilometers from the Ewijk ( A50 ) motorway junction near Nijmegen via Venlo and Roermond to the Het Vonderen ( A2 ) motorway junction near Maasbracht, parallel to the German state border .
The A73 roughly follows the course of the Meuse over its entire length and thus opens up the north and center of the Dutch province of Limburg .
European route E 31
From Ewijk to the Rijkevoort motorway junction near Boxmeer , the A73 is part of the E 31 European route. From there, the E 31 continues as the A77 to the German-Dutch border at Gennep and then as the 57 federal motorway to the Ruhr area .
Expansion south
From 2003 to 2008 the A73 from Venlo was extended 42 kilometers to the south. By closing the gap to the A2, the entire Limburg province is now connected to Maastricht with a continuous motorway. The new building relieves the national road N271 and the “Napoleonsweg” (N273) on both sides of the Meuse, which until then was one of the most accident-prone roads in the Netherlands. In addition, the greater Eindhoven area and the A2 between Eindhoven and the Het Vonderen motorway junction will be relieved, since the A73 is considered a large eastern bypass.
Connections to the German motorway network
Connection to the A 52
From the Roermond exit, the A73 is connected to the German federal motorway 52 . The A 52 from Mönchengladbach was built until 2009 to the Dutch border. From there it is seamlessly connected to the A73 and Roermond city center via the N280 car route.
Closing the gap was also promoted because two large shopping centers and downtown Roermond attract between one and seven million German visitors annually. In the absence of a direct train connection, almost all of them travel by car. Long backlogs were the result on the former B 230 .
Connection to the A 61
The newly built A74 branches off from the A73 near Venlo ( Ulingsheide junction ). Since April 2012, the short route has been connecting the Dutch motorway network with the German federal motorway 61 in the direction of Mönchengladbach and Koblenz as a bypass of Venlo . This used to end at the Schwanenhaus border crossing and was only connected via urban roads.
Connection to the A 40
From the Zaarderheiken motorway junction, there is a connection to the federal motorway 40 via the A67 .
Connection to the A 57
From the Rijkevoort motorway junction there is a connection to the federal motorway 57 via the A77 .
future
The extension of the A73 along Beuningen over the Waal to the A15 is an option that regularly appears as a solution for the heavy traffic on the roads around Nijmegen . However, a partial solution to this problem has already been found. The Tacitus Bridge on the A50 over the Waal was widened from 2 × 2 lanes to 4 × 2 lanes.
For the provincial elections on March 20, 2019 , parties such as the SP , VVD , PvdA , FvD and DENK demanded that the Province of Limburg should campaign for the widening of the A73, which was only completed in 2008. Traffic at the Zaarderheiken interchange on the eastern parallel road of the A73 motorway in a northerly direction is often congested. The main cause of the traffic jam is that there is only one through lane on the parallel lanes of the A73. The east parallel lane is to get an additional lane to improve the flow of traffic and safety on the A73 in the direction of the A67 . It is planned that a draft will be published in late 2019. The decision to expand should be made in 2020 and work should begin in 2021 and be completed in 2022.
Specialty
There is no direct connection from Rijksweg 73 towards Venlo to Rijksweg 74 towards the German border and vice versa. If you want to switch between the two motorways, you have to turn at the Venlo-Zuid junction.
photos
A73 south near Beesel (afrit 18) (2007)
A73 south near Reuver (2007)
Ramp of the Roermond Rur tunnel (2008)