Since the beginning of January, the Rogier Tunnel has been closed eight times. What’s the reason behind these disruptions?
It seems the road section lacks ventilation, while works have been conducted both on wiring and on power supply.
“We have issues to restart the power supple of the ventilation system at certain times,” Camille Thiry, spokesperson of Brussels-Mobility, explained to news agency Belga. However, not all of the closures are linked to ventilation issues.
Car accidents, fires and demonstrations might also be a reason why the tunnel could be closed, Brussels-Mobility adds. For some weeks, tests have been conducted at 4:30 am to check the state of play of the ventilation system. Agents are also there at rush hours, which has resulted in fewer closures recently.
It appears that the works on wiring and power supply should be over by the beginning of March, which then should put an end to the ventilation issues, and to major disruptions.
A whole clean-up will however, start in March (the operations should be conducted at night-time).
The Rogier Tunnel is then supposed to be completely renovated in 2022-2023.