The number of traffic jams in the Netherlands could be halved by 2016 through a combination of extra motorway lanes, railways, the introduction of a kilometre tax and getting people to work closer to home, the head of the government’s mobility taskforce said on Tuesday.

‘We have to find a new balance between living, working and mobility,’ said Willem de Jager, who was seconded to the taskforce from Rabobank. ‘If that works, we can cut jams by 50% within eight years.’
For example, employees who are based more than 50 km from their place of work should be given much higher tax-free payments to move home. The current limit is 5000, but this could be upped to 25,000 over five years, De Jager told news agency ANP.