The cost of traffic congestion to the Dutch economy has risen to €750m, an increase of €50m on 2007, Alexander Sakkers, chairman of the transport lobby group TLN, has told news agency ANP.

The figure is made up of the actual cost the jams, higher petrol consumption and compulsory breaks for drivers. ‘The recession has influenced the figures. It could have been higher,’ Sakkers said.
Sakkers was speaking at the launch of an road-widening programme at a notorious traffic blackspot – the A4 near Leiderdorp. Every day some 14,000 lorries and up to 125,000 private cars use this stretch of motorway between Amsterdam and the Hague.