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Rue Belliard loses lane in favour of cycle paths

by editor

Rue Belliard will lose one of its five car lanes to create a cycle lane. The works will start this weekend, 27 April.

By 6 May, the infrastructure of the road will have changed drastically.  The number of lanes between the Inner Ring and the Belliard tunnel will go from five to four, and there will be a cycle lane on each street side. As an additional precation these cycle lanes will also be separated from the car traffic by blocks of concrete.

During the road works – which will only take place over the weekends – the available car lanes will be limited to three.

“There is a great demand for more bicycle infrastructure in that part of the city,” said Mobility Minister Pascal Smet (SP.A). “You can see that, for example, in the number of bicycles on Rue de la Loi, where the cycle lanes are practically saturated.”

A single cycle lane with two-way traffic was considered for a while, but that idea was abandoned. “It would be less safe, and cyclists coming from across the street would also lose time crossing the road,” explained Smet’s spokesperson Mathias Dobbels.

The redesign of the Rue Belliard is limited to redrawing of the lanes, creating cycle lanes, and placing the separation between bicycle lanes and car traffic. The pavements will not be affected.

“It is a medium-term project,” said Dobbels. “We are now taking action because a project for a thorough redevelopment of the street is not for right now. We will have to wait for plans for the renovation works on the Belliard tunnel,” he added.

Maïthé Chini

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