Netherlands re-research tips

[Ruward]

@adymike - What about east central Netherlands? That part seems a bit empty. We could have at least ONE city over there like, I dunno, Enschede.

Grolsch beer factory?

[_Avto2000_]

Rework & Adding of the Maasvlakte/Europoort/Botlek will by nice

The Maasvlakte: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Maasv ... 1241?hl=en
The Europoort: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Europ ... 9833?hl=en
The Botlek: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Botle ... 2608?hl=en

[Pan Logistica]

Some good suggestions have been made since I checked in. Good work!

Not long after my last edit here I found out that there is at least one relatively well known truckstop in the country. It's called Truckstop 8 and lies along the A2, which means it has a relatively inland position which makes it more useful for players (as you can pass by it on your way somewhere). It has quite a bit of truck parking space, a restaurant and a gas station and it sits on a block with a garage and a tire service. Maybe sort of unfortunately though it lies pretty much inside the city of Eindhoven, so it's not much of a separate entity in its own right.

When coming back to post about this today I also discovered a website that lists (or aims to list) all truckstops in the Netherlands by province. Many of them seem pretty much regular roadside restaurants though, so ones again I'm not sure which of those (and they have quite a few of them listed, in some provinces) have the street creds to show up ingame.

[VabisSuperDesigns]

Would be awesome if we had Utrecht in ETS2, I mean one of the biggest distribution centres of DHL and Jumbo are here where I live.
Not to mention the fact that it is a beautiful city haha and also iindeed Eindhoven would be cool, together with like the Hague or something.

[dsf.fernando]

Einshoven is a must, but Hague may be too close to Rotterdam

[M95]

I do have summarised some road-technical aspects of the Netherlands. Hope it helps in the research phase and when modeling stuff for a possible rebuild if needed and desired.

Additional border signs, besides the speed limit sign and the europe sign there's also a sign showing the transition of the road number.
Belgium border:
https://www.google.com/maps/@51.3233839 ... 384!8i8192
German border:
https://www.google.com/maps/@52.3136313 ... 384!8i8192

Usage of foreign road numbers:
When close to the border the road number of the country you'll approach will be shown, this only happens on large scale around Germany:
https://www.google.com/maps/@51.3475885 ... 312!8i6656

Speed limits in the netherlands:
The following speed limits are common in the Netherlands
30 (only in zones and construction works on secondary roads)
50 (inner city, near big junctions or near construction works on roads classified for 70/80 km/h)
60 (Rural roads outside city limit which accesses farms)
70 (City expressways and roadworks on 80 roads)
80 (all non-autoweg roads, either one or two+ lanes, city highways)
90 (construction works on highways)
100 (autoweg roads, secondary roads but signed with a car sign)
100 (6-19h) (highway speed limit by day)
120 (19-6h) (highway speed limit)
130 (19-6h) (highway speed limit)

Road markings on secondary roads:
The speeds and overtaking resctictions are visible on the image:
[ external image ]

Highway signage:
Highway far: https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5528233 ... 384!8i8192
(in this case you enter a city ring, these signs also occur without the ring addition)
Highway medium: https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5487208 ... 384!8i8192
(can also occur on the overhead portal when not too big)
Highway exit: https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5505114 ... 384!8i8192
(Underlined RING-west part represents the fact you enter a city ring road)
Highway information for industries:
https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5643087 ... 312!8i6656
This sign says the important destinations you could reach via the named exit number

Traffic light posts:
The traffic light posts irl have some greytone at the top as visible here:
https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5993052 ... 312!8i6656

Main gas station companies:
The most common gas station companies in The Netherlands are Shell, BP, esso and Total.

[P3TER_]

After finishing the beautiful Germany, thanks btw!, I assume the Benelux isn't that far away from a rework, so...

For the rework of the Netherlands, I think the following things are great to have: (I don't expect everything to be included of course)

Cities:
-Amsterdam (Needs a rework in order to get off the square city block shapes that are outdated)
-Rotterdam (")
-Groningen (")
-Eindhoven (Reasons found in topics above (Large (5th city), ASML chip machine maker, DAF, Philips electronics...)
-Enschede (Great location and 14th largest city with even a small port. Gives the eastern part of the NL some more life compared to the current situation.) (Zwolle could be an alternative, but preferably not with Utrecht because of distances.)
(-Utrecht) (It's possible to make it along the northern-eastern part of the A2, and could be made to really express the population density of the (western) NL, but should be build topographically as low as possible in order to get some distance to Amsterdam. It's the 4th city and has a central location which gives Utrecht a major role in transport routes.)

Highways:
A1 (Amsterdam - Osnabrück)
A2 (A15 - Eindhoven - Liège)
A4 (Amsterdam - Rotterdam | A29 - Antwerp*)
A7 (Amsterdam - Groningen)(Afsluitdijk)
A10 (Ring Amsterdam)
A15 (Port of Rotterdam - Rotterdam - A50)
A29 (A15 - A4)
A35 (A1 - Enschede - Dortmund)
A50 (A1 - Eindhoven)
A67 (Antwerp - Eindhoven - Duisburg)

*I've assumed that Antwerp will be part of a Belgian rework which probably happens in the same timespan.

Secundary roads:
-N57-N254-N62 (A15 - Belgian N49/E34) (Would go over the Deltaworks and through the Westerscheldetunnel with possibly some fish-related company)
-A28-N34-N36-A35 (Groningen - Enschede)
-N202 (Amsterdam - IJmuiden)

I know this may seem a bit dense, but our country actually is quite dense, and surely feels so when driving. If you compare the highway density with those of other European countries, especially our mid-west side has a lot of roads.

Sightseeing/landmarks:
-Deltaworks (N57) (Worldwide known structures against storms and floods.)
-Muiderslot castle / Naarden (A1) (see posts above)
-Erasmusbrug (Rotterdam) (Iconic bridge through the centre of Rotterdam)
-Euromast (Rotterdam) (185m high tower, popular by tourists.)
-Evoluon (Eindhoven) (Ufo type of building used for conferences.)
-"Hunnebedden" (N34..) (large stones make up former grave tombs made by the Hunnen (The Huns), long time ago.)
-Betuwelijn (A15) (It's the major train route to the German Ruhr area from the Port of Rotterdam.)

Non-city industries:
-Chemelot (A2 almost at Liège) (It's a large chemical refinery area which leaves opportunities for some chemical industries.)
-Port of Rotterdam (A15) (Containers, Oil and bulk companies could be put down here.)
-IJmuiden Port (N202)
-Sloehaven (N254) (A small port for yachts or some bulk could be made here.)

Feel free to add or correct!

[ external image ]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10-Vm0X ... p=drivesdk
(You possibly need Google My Maps.)

[Pan Logistica]

I did another map, this time more as a bit of a thought experiment/visualization of stuff I was thinking about. I think in the maybe eventual Benelux rework Antwerp is basically a must. (No cities from the Flemish "gewest"/region yet, large population, international appeal, good looking etc.) I would also really like Eindhoven to be added, mostly for DAF related reasons. But do those two wishes go together? Aren't these cities close enough to each other and to Rotterdam and Brussels to make them clash with the rest of the map in at least this part of the ets2 continent? (They'd probably fit in fine in one of the newer DLC areas, but that's not the question. I am for the purpose of this post also assuming the Benelux do not get a whole bunch of other new cities and roads giving the whole place a higher density, two new cities is already quite a wish compared to the great looking but "added content"-wise modest Germany rework.) For this mapping experiment I borrowed P3ter's A15-A2 solution rather than taking this road all the way to Amsterdam (the A15 might be a good place for the "Kinderdijk" windmills too?) and I used a ProMods-adjacent layout for Antwerp.

[ external image ]

I figure this works. Eindhoven might combine a little better with Bruges or Ghent further to the West, but on the upside Antwerp leaves room for the Zeebrugge port and another ferry line to Hull, to help Belgium look a little balanced. (And to balance for the Netherlands getting both a city and a major road, we have to keep an eye out for jealous Belgians and/or lopsided looking maps.) Antwerp meanwhile might combine a bit better with Arnhem, Enschede, Deventer, Nijmegen, Almelo, Hengelo, Zutphen, Apeldoorn, Zwolle or pick a random city roughly in the Eastern Netherlands than with Eindhoven, but this works well enough. The road map I end up with also looks like a decent or better game map, every road has at least one possible scenario in which you would want to drive there in order to get to your destination. Even the A2 and the A73 routes feel like they have related but still clearly distinct purposes. Liège for one (Luik on the map, because I started working from my in-game map and my game is set to Dutch) feels a lot less lost with this new road to somewhere attached. The most inconsistent thing about this map is probably the fact that the Calais-Duisburg road is still a countryside back road while being a main connection between two cities and a port and both France and Germany. (This road is pretty iconic in parts of the community though, so I tried messing with it as little as possible.) The map also feels a bit Brabant heavy, with three historically Brabantian cities versus zero for several other regions that are at least somewhat similar in size. But overall, definitely a realistic possibility.

[P3TER_]

I think the Port of Rotterdam definitely needs more recognition for being the largest in Europe. It could have a container port company at Maasvlakte and an oil refinery at Botlek/Pernis.

For Amsterdam, it's airport must be utilized by at least one company like FLE for example given how important the airport is to the entire country. The IJmuiden port could also have a generic shipping company, perhaps a ferry depot.

Eindhoven (if in) needs a electronics/office logistic company at Brainport, a highly technological area where companies such as ASML, Philips, IBM etc. all work together. Furthermore, a DAF truck factory as a company could be made here (ofc depending on DAF themselves) just like Scania and Volvo already have and Renault may get in Lyon.

The Netherlands (and the other Benelux countries in some degree as well) has such a dense highway infrastructure that secondary roads may not be a realistic option for truckers. Therefore only in very few places (Zeeland i.e.), secondary roads are a feasible option.
[ external image ]

[Underscore_101_]

As far as Rotterdam goes, more of the port for sure, and it needs the ring road A4, A15, A16 and A20, we already have a tunnel (dunno which tunnel it represents, but it seems to be in the wrong place to me) and for sure the Van Brienenoord bridge with Feyenoord Stadium in the background on one side and the city lights when you're driving over it, I always find that an awesome view, but maybe I love Rotterdam too much .

Scale wise that won't all fit so they need to ditch Amsterdam, it's just an open air museum anyways :-p, And replace Schiphol with Zestienhoven, and replace the Mercedes dealer for a Daf dealer (that one is just for me)
Or better somehow change the scale of the Benelux entirely, like 1:10 maybe so they can fit more in it closer to real life, the countries have enough to offer to fill that without looking empty (and keep Amsterdam with a ring road as well and have the Amsterdam Arena in as scenery, among some more nice highways over large water places and the port for example)