Traffic jams cost Belgium €4.8 billion in additional fuel consumption and emissions last year, according to the Belgium Mobility Dashboard. The figure puts a price on Belgium's traffic congestion – a long-standing issue in the country.
The price, estimated at the behest of the Federation of Enterprises in Belgium (FEB) and the Belgian automobile organisation FEBIAC, further reveals the economic impact of traffic jams in the country, with one in five Belgian workers facing a two-hour commute every day.
Traffic jams in Belgium have shown no sign of stopping recently with Belgian commutes by car having reached pre-pandemic levels. As a result, traffic jams on Flemish roads have risen by 27% since the outbreak of Covid-19.
To better prevent this loss of time and money, the Flemish Mobility Minister Lydia Peeters wants her regional government to put a 'smart kilometre' charge in place, as is already the case in the capital.
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For her, charging automobile usage will "ensure a future-oriented shift in driving behaviour," adding that "these jams are proof that it is not a question of whether, but of when" the charge will be introduced.
Furthermore, the minister might call on the region's companies to adopt a hybrid working model for their employees, to further allow them to work from home. In Brussels, this has led to the number of traffic jams falling by 23% between November 2019 and 2022.
