The 80 kph on parts of the ring roads around Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Utrecht may disappear because they have led to worse traffic congestion, particularly around Rotterdam, transport minister Camiel Eurlings told parliament on Monday.

However, pollution close to the highways has been reduced since the zones were introduced in 2005, the minister said. He now plans to introduce experiments with variable speeds on some stretches and if those prove a success, the 80 kph limit will be dropped next year.
On Monday, the government’s mobility expertise institute KiM said that journey times on Holland’s motorways rose 53% between 2000 and 2006. The economic damage caused by jams is between €2.7bn and €3.6bn, the KiM said.