It’s not somewhere you’d think to go if you didn’t live there No other district in Utrecht manages to combine nature and history quite like Lunetten and architecture that takes you back to the 1970s and 80s Tucked away in the furthest south-east corner of Utrecht Lunetten was built in the 1970s as an overspill after the Hoograven Once the worst of the housing shortage had been resolved it was time to think about how to organise arrange the public space and social cohesion in this new neighbourhood ranging from rooms and apartments to duplex houses and terraced properties Residents were even invited to plan the lay-out of some of the houses – consultation was ‘in’ in those days The fact that they could claim to live in the Carpathians the Dolomites or the Philippines (the Dutch street names in Lunetten largely refer to mountain ranges or island groups) A truck overturned on the A12 near the Lunetten interchange, triggering severe traffic congestion in and around Utrecht Rijkswaterstaat has urged drivers to avoid the city and surrounding roads as significant delays are expected throughout the day The accident occurred at approximately 2:37 p.m when the truck veered off course and overturned led to the closure of the parallel lanes heading toward The Hague the connecting roads from the A27 to the A12 parallel lanes have also been blocked with cleanup operations expected to continue until at least 9:00 p.m Rush hour traffic is facing delays in both directions on the A12 which drivers may be using as an alternate route into Utrecht Traffic is also jammed on the N237/Utrechtseweg and the Beneluxlaan as commuters try to find a way home from work Drivers are advised to seek alternative routes and real-time updates on detours are being provided via electronic signs above the roads A heavy-duty tow truck has been called in to right the overturned vehicle and the traffic that had been trapped by road closures has been redirected Rijkswaterstaat anticipates that significant delays will persist until at least 9:00 p.m The Utrecht Science Park must be accessible by means of a large intercity train station between Lunetten and Koningsweg within ten years a direct bus or tram lane will take passengers from Leidsche Rijn to the science park via that station The government and the Utrecht region are allocating around 380 million euros for the construction of a so-called public transport ring around Utrecht By merging the existing Lunetten station with a new station on the Koningsweg a second rail hub will be created in Utrecht The intention is to relieve Utrecht Central Station and improve the accessibility of the Utrecht Science Park This will especially happen if the new station becomes part of a quick public transport connection from Leidsche Rijn the municipality of Utrecht and surrounding municipalities reached an agreement on investments totalling half a billion euros No funds are available at this time for extending the new Uithof line to Zeist or even Amersfoort but according to the municipality that plan has not been discarded completely There will be an investigation into this option investments in the public transport network are extremely important In a press statement she says: “It is very nice that we can now start developing a public transport network with multiple junctions Utrecht will double between 2000 and 2040 in terms of inhabitants A different scale regarding public transport applies to such a large city The number of travellers at Utrecht Central Station is growing from 88 million a year now to 100 million in 2030 77,000 people travel to and from Utrecht Science Park every day we can no longer manage with only Utrecht Central Station as an important transfer point.” the Utrecht mobility plans are an important condition for the construction of new homes in the area between Utrecht Central Station and Nieuwegein A lot will be built in the so-called Merwedekanaalzone especially The House of Representatives will discuss all projects and programmes to improve the infrastructure in the Netherlands The official decision as to whether the Utrecht measures will indeed be implemented is expected this spring The intention is that the construction will be completed in 2030 Road users on the A12 between Veenendaal and Utrecht will have to suffer from severe traffic jams in May and August The service will carry out major maintenance on the motorway and will close it twice for nine consecutive days and nights over a length of 30 kilometers between the Maanderbroek and Lunetten junctions The old asphalt is being replaced by quieter asphalt between Veenendaal and Utrecht The closures will result in severe disruption but they feel this option is quicker and more efficient than closing the road for ten weekends They also think it is safer for the workers if the road is completely closed off Anyone choosing to take this route anyway should expect the trip to take an hour longer than usual Rijkswaterstaat has advised people to work from home or use the train or bicycle Sunday is the day: the fortieth edition of the Utrecht Marathon Runners will start at the Utrecht Science Park for the quarter UU students and staff members Hester Haasdijk-Spoelder Thousands of runners will gather at the Cambridgelaan on Sunday The real die-hards will run a 42-kilometre course through Amelisweerd But the runners of the quarter and half marathons will also walk a beautiful route through many spots familiar to Utrecht residents.  That will be true for UU sourcing and procurement coordinator Hester Haasdijk-Spoelder (51) medicine student Noortje van Hoef (24) and biology student Nouk Lax (22) Hester and Noortje are both preparing in small groups for the half and quarter marathons which offers numerous training sessions for runners who’s from Brabant but now lives in student housing in Zeist says: “Utrecht feels like my home away from home Just having the start at De Uithof makes this so special.” On Sunday her friends and her parents will be present to cheer her on will also see a few familiar faces in the crowds “It’s a lot of fun to run through your own city Many of my friends and roommates will come to watch Training togetherHester and Noortje are full of praise for their Olympos trainer Kjeld van Hees “Kjeld motivates me with his commitment and enthusiasm,” Hester says “He gives you custom homework and teaches you the right techniques “I was tricked into it almost ten years ago by a colleague who wanted to join the relay marathon.” Still she’s been running regularly and she has kept up with training at Olympos without husband and child.” “And also,” she adds Noortje says she started running with a friend we could see each other sometimes.” She’s currently training for the quarter triathlon and she still enjoys training with others.  they share a drink after the training sessions but outside the training they mainly keep in touch through Strava – sort of a social media platform where you can keep track of sports-related achievements “It motivates to see what others are doing,” Hester says “It creates a sense of community,” he says He likes sharing his passion for running with the group “The advantage of training with a group is the social aspect and then I try to help them through varied training sessions.” The training sessions start with a warming up on the hockey fields they run a lap around the USP and through Amelisweerd “I would never do those exercises by myself,” she says Noortje prefers the parts where they run through the woods Videos on InstagramIndividual athlete Nouk has a very different approach She only started running this past December She was inspired by a friend who ran the Eindhoven half marathon And as Nouk wanted to become a little bit more athletic “It started with an occasional three-kilometre run Then I thought: why not run a little bit further every time and then train for a half marathon as well?” And that’s the goal for this Sunday She does not have a trainer to help her prepare for this distance and finds training schedules and exercises online I didn’t want to slow others down as a beginner That’s why I reasoned that I should first get to a certain level before I could train with others,” she says I still prefer to empty my mind during a run after a long day RheumatismThere’s an additional challenge to running for Nouk “I sometimes suffer from rheumatism,” she says That means I have to pay more attention to it and doesn’t anticipate many issues for this weekend is all too aware that joining the Utrecht marathon is not a given One member of her four-person running group passed away last year; another is dealing with cancer “It does feel extra special to be able to run here,” she says sadly.