For six months from Monday 18 March, there will be major disruption on the Brussels ring road. A new phase in the renovation of the Leonard tunnel is beginning. The disruption on the inner ring road will last until the end of October. This summer there will also be disruption on the outer ring road and the E411.
It is not only on the Antwerp ring road that work is busy as part of the Oosterweel link. The Agency for Roads and Traffic (AWV) is also working from Monday 18 March on the entrances to the Leonard tunnel on the Brussels ring road, more specifically on the walls of the entrances. The concrete of those walls will be renewed. “To carry out the work, the contractor needs space,” AWV said. “One lane will be closed on the exit lane on the outside of the walls, where traffic from the inner ring road (coming from Zaventem) will be lining up to take the E411 towards Namur. Traffic will already be driving on a narrowed carriageway (of one lane instead of two lanes) from just before the entrance to the Vierarment Tunnel.”
The contractor will prepare the site during the night of Sunday 17 March to Monday 18 March. So on Monday 18 March, the situation on the schedule below will be in place by early morning:
The Flemish Traffic Centre advises road users to use alternatives (e.g. the train) in the coming months. If you do take the eastern ring road, it is best to check the traffic information before you leave.
Night works
The contractor will also narrow the connection of the E411 (for traffic coming from Namur) and the outer ring road (towards Zaventem) from Monday morning 18 March, reports the AWV. As a result, traffic coming from Namur towards Zaventem or towards Brussels may also experience some disruption. The traffic centre expects this disruption to be somewhat limited, as this connection will narrow from two lanes to one lane even in the state without works. The lane where traffic has one lane will now be slightly longer than in the condition without works.
“The works on the accesses will be done using a technique called ‘hydrodemolition’: a kind of high-pressure cleaner that loosens the ‘old’ concrete,” the AWV said. “With that technique, pieces of concrete come loose and there would be a risk of damage to passing cars. Therefore, in the coming weeks, the bulk of the works will take place in the evening and at night, when the tunnel is closed – the ring road tunnel has already been closed on weeknights for renovation since April 2023. The lane on the front lane must also remain closed during the day for safety reasons – although work will not always be carried out then.”
Ghost driving
From the beginning of July, the Roads and Traffic Agency will also renew the floor plates of the tunnel shafts of the ring road. During these works, traffic from the outer ring road, i.e. traffic from Waterloo, will always be able to drive through one of the tubes. While the contractor works on the floor slab of the outer ring road, traffic from the outer ring road will drive through the inner ring road tube. Those drivers will then ‘ghost drive’, so to speak. While the contractor works on the floor slab of the inner ring road, traffic from the outer ring road will be able to drive through their ‘own’ tube (that of the outer ring road). Traffic from the inner ring road, i.e. traffic coming from Zaventem, will be diverted above ground over the Leonard intersection. This situation will remain in force until the end of October.
The Roads and Traffic Agency has divided the renovation of the Leonard Tunnel into short and long phases that follow each other in such a way that all those road users will still be able to go every which way in the coming months. Work on the entrances will take place before the renewal of the floor slab, so that traffic on the ring road will still be able to use the two directions (inner ring road and outer ring road) in the summer – albeit with many delays, especially for the inner ring road.
“Working in the Leonard Tunnel is no sinecure, because the tunnels are part of a busy traffic junction AND they are in the middle of the Sonian Forest,” said Kylie Joly, project manager of Roads and Traffic. “On the E411 and the ring road together, more than a hundred thousand vehicles pass through on an average working day. Because the tunnels are working in the middle of the Sonian Forest, and because the level differences are too great, we cannot work with temporary parallel roads either. As a result, there will be a lot of traffic disruption. The Roads and Traffic Agency apologises to road users for this.”
