hoofdtransportas

Hoofdtransportas is a term used in Dutch urban planning to describe the main transport axis of a city—the backbone of the transport network designed to handle large volumes of movement and to connect major destinations. It typically combines several modes in a continuous corridor and is supported by secondary streets and local networks.

The hoofdtransportas includes heavy-traffic corridors such as arterial roads, rail lines, and high-capacity bus or tram corridors, with integrated pedestrian and cycling routes, stations, and interchanges. It is designed to maximize speed, reliability, and safety, often featuring priority for public transport and grade-separated or segregated segments where feasible.

In planning practice, the hoofdtransportas emerges from strategic master plans and travel demand analyses. It aims to align land use with mobility by promoting development around the corridor (transit-oriented development), ensuring multimodal access to key nodes, and coordinating governance, funding, and maintenance across agencies.

Benefits include shorter travel times, improved accessibility, and more efficient public transport. However, challenges include balancing through-traffic with local access, preventing urban fragmentation, funding constraints, and ensuring flexibility for future technologies and changing travel patterns.

The concept is widely used in the Netherlands and other parts of Europe as a guiding principle for prioritizing investments in high-capacity corridors that shape city form and sustainable mobility.