Noordeinde renovated from facade to facade and made traffic safer

The Noordeinde is one of the entrances to the historic city center of Leiden. Every day, many visitors, students, residents and entrepreneurs enter and leave our city. Conduct gives the Noordeinde the long-awaited renovation.

Noordeinde is redecorated from facade to facade. This is the section from the Wittepoortsbrug to the Noordeinde/Rapenburg/Kort Rapenburg intersection.

30 km/h zone

The redevelopment of the street improves road safety and makes the public space more attractive. The existing 30 km/h zone on Noordeinde will be extended. From Wittepoortsbrug to Rapenburg it will be 30 km/h. To indicate the transition between 50 km/h and 30 km/h, there will be a traffic plateau with a pedestrian crossing just before the Wittepoortsbrug. By creating a central reservation at Rembrandtpark, the road will have a slight curve.

This leads to a decrease in traffic speed. The narrow part of the Noordeinde will have a strip of cobblestones in the middle of the road. As a result, motorists are less likely to overtake cyclists. This improves road safety, especially for cyclists. Bus stops will be made accessible to everyone.

North end

Alderman Ashley North (Climate, Mobility and Finance): “Anyone cycling or walking through Noordeinde to get to the city center will experience a world of difference. Although we cannot widen the streets, we can make them more suitable and therefore safer for the traffic that passes through them. I am very happy that the environment has contributed in this way, after all they live and work there and know the traffic situation like the back of their hand. If all goes according to plan, the street will be redesigned in early 2024 and local residents, contractors and traffic users will have the entrance to Leiden that the city deserves.

Downtown green entrance

There will be a green entrance to and from the city center; a ‘Parkplein’ on the wide part of the Noordeinde near the Rembrandtpark. The green middle band emphasizes that you are crossing the Singelpark at this point. The median also allows pedestrians to cross the road in two stages. There will be two trees and other plants in the median. There will also be trees and planters on both sides of the road.

In addition, the sidewalks in Noordeinde will be built of clinker bricks, as in the rest of the city center, and Leiden lanterns will be installed. This ensures that the appearance of the Noordeinde will soon belong to the city center.

Bicycle parking

Full sidewalks due to parked bicycles are also a thorn in the side of the municipality. They block the passage of pedestrians. On the wide part of Noordeinde there is room for a wide sidewalk and additional bicycle parking spaces will be built here. In the new situation, there are 20 in total. This is not enough to solve the bicycle parking problem in Noordeinde. Unfortunately, there is no space for bike racks on the narrow part of Noordeinde. That is why solutions are sought here in the surrounding streets. This is being addressed under the new Space on the Street project and attention is being paid to this in the cycle parking implementation program we are developing.

Newsstand

The old flower kiosk finds a second life at The Field in the station district. Additional green will now be placed on the kiosk site.

City Council on

The mayor and the aldermen propose to the municipal council to adopt the implementing decree for the development of public space in Noordeinde. The implementing decree establishes a detailed elaboration of the plans and makes the funds available for the realization of the project. If the city council takes a positive decision in the fall, the implementation can start in the first quarter of 2024.

Uncrowded city center

The renovation of Noordeinde is part of the Auto-Low Inner City agenda. Together we are creating space for a green, livable and economically vital downtown.