Published on: January 23, 2026, 11:20 AM
In 2024 - 2025, the Kooybrug (N99) near Den Helder was renovated. The bridge is now almost new and can last for many more years. After the renovation, Rijkswaterstaat received questions about the Touwslagersweg. This is the agricultural road next to the traffic road.
The Touwslagersweg is now narrower than before and traffic lights have been installed. To the dissatisfaction of some road users, this leads to delays. Why were these changes necessary?
Traffic situation N99
The Kooybrug consists of the N99 and an agricultural road. The N99 handles regular traffic between Den Helder and Den Oever. The agricultural road, the Touwslagersweg, is intended for slow traffic, such as tractors and cyclists. During the renovation, the carriageway of the Touwslagersweg was made narrower.
The reason for the narrowing is that the edges of the agricultural bridge were overloaded, especially when tractors passed each other. The edges are not structurally suitable for this and it was necessary to adjust the situation. Therefore, an iron construction (cantilever beam) was placed along the entire bridge.
Oncoming traffic on the Touwslagersweg can no longer pass each other (except for cyclists and mopeds). To manage traffic properly, traffic lights have been installed on both sides of the Touwslagersweg so that all road users can safely cross the agricultural bridge.
Additional measures
In recent times, we have taken various measures to shorten the waiting time for the traffic lights. Road users experience long waiting times. A shorter waiting time is not possible because the traffic lights are set taking into account the slowest road users, namely cyclists.
There is a period, called clearance time, to cross the bridge before the light on the other side turns green. Experience shows that many road users do not wait for the clearance time and run through the red traffic light.
It is important to know that running a red light disrupts the traffic lights and sometimes makes it take even longer to cross.
We understand that it takes getting used to the new situation, but emphasize that the safety of road users is paramount. The advice is therefore to obey the traffic rules and wait until the traffic light turns green.