Again and again and again the traffic jam record is broken. The most recent: 852 kilometer hours. Traffic jams are expressed in kilometer hours, a unit of measurement that indicates how many kilometers of traffic jams there would be if the average working day lasted one hour.
Never before has the severity of traffic jams been as high as in January 2024. Complete the top five: December, November, August and September 2023. We have to go back to February 2023 to find a figure that is lower than the record just before the corona pandemic (775). ).
Traffic jam king Antwerp
The focus of all those traffic jams is in Antwerp, and it is there that an extra challenge was added on Monday. From March 11, one lane on the outer ring near the Sports Palace has been closed and the three remaining lanes will be narrowed. That’s a recipe for even more traffic jams anyway. And as soon as an accident happens at that location or in the traffic jam in front of it, serious disruption is predicted.
The lane will be closed to allow work on the bypass, a temporary highway that will allow the viaduct to be demolished at a later stage and the definitive ring road to be constructed. That bypass also only has three lanes and will be used until 2030.
Heavy nuisance
It is just one of 41 locations along Flemish highways where work is planned this year. And that more than once causes serious inconvenience: for example, the works on the bridges above the E313 in Ranst during the Easter holidays, the rush-hour lane between Lummen and Hasselt-West from the summer, and a bicycle bridge above the E40 in Heverlee in the autumn. According to the Roads and Traffic Agency (AWV), these are necessary interventions that increase the safety and lifespan of our roads.
“The interventions are very diverse, from renewal of the road surface to the installation of noise barriers, the construction of rush-hour lanes and the conversion of traffic complexes,” says Flemish Minister of Public Works Lydia Peeters (Open VLD). “But this year the focus is also on the renewal of our so-called works of art. With repairs and renovations to sixteen bridges and viaducts and seven tunnels, we are taking a major step forward in eliminating the maintenance backlog.”
Controls
The AWV asks road users to inform themselves in advance about the planned works and is launching a campaign about this. It has also coordinated the works with other developers to “avoid simultaneous major road works in the same area and to investigate diversion routes in advance to keep them free of obstacles”.
The most inconvenient works take place at night, at weekends and during holiday periods. “And as many lanes as possible are always kept free, for example by working on bridges from the roadside.”
As in previous years, manned checkpoints, mobile speed cameras and mobile route checks will also be used. Workers are working on the yards day and night. “When setting up a site, very strict measures are taken to increase safety in the site area. We ask drivers to respect the speed limit and signaling,” says Peeters. “Be extra careful when approaching a construction zone.”
