Activities
Traffic can cross the Dampoort roundabout again on Saturday afternoon. It was ‘clipped’ between east and west throughout the Easter holidays. After three years of work, the end of the long construction site is now in sight, a little earlier than expected.
The busy roundabout was partly closed for two weeks, resulting in detours for cars, buses and trucks. Normally there would still be a lot of work this weekend to be ready by 6 am on Monday morning, but it went smoother than expected.
“The turning basin opens again on Saturday, everything went smoothly,” says Tess Bonte of the Roads and Traffic Agency. “The contractor will carry out the final asphalting works until Friday evening, April 12. The Dampoort can be opened to traffic again on Saturday April 13.”
But not quite yet
Although the work is not completely finished yet. “The last things will be completed until mid-May: the cycle and pedestrian paths, the traffic islands, the wadi north of the bus station and the bus station on Antwerp Square,” it said. From May 26, buses should return to their usual stops. This means that the end of the yard is in sight, after more than three years of work.
The Dampoort will now be left alone for a few years, but that does not mean that nothing will change. Construction of a large campus of the Artevelde University College will soon begin on the grass area next to Dok-Zuid. The Verapaz Bridge will be completed next year, which will mean more traffic will have to cross the Dampoort.
Tunnel
And then of course there is the tunnel they want to dig. The Dampoort roundabout must eventually disappear: the R40 will run underneath it via a tunnel that has yet to be dug. There will be a square on the Dampoort itself, with steps down to the water. The plans are currently being drawn up.
Work on Dampoort will resume in 2028 at the earliest. There is a chance that it will be later, but if the tunnel works ever really start, it will take several years.
