Amsterdam’s Coen Tunnel was opened by Queen Juliana of the Netherlands.
Travel between the city and suburb of Zaandam before the tunnel was built was largely by ferry and the Schellingwouder bridge and, as traffic grew during the 1950s, proved to be a large bottleneck. Wait times for the ferry often stretched to 45 minutes or more and residents were frustrated. They finally petitioned the Dutch government for a tunnel underneath the North Sea Canal in 1959. Construction on the tunnel began in 1961.
Today, the 1283 meter-long tunnel is one of two Coen tunnels on the A10 motorway that carry more than 100,000 vehicles per day.
Transportation History 
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