Touring is warning the public of chaos on the inner ring road. This will be caused in the weeks and months to come, by the closure of the Porte de Hal tunnel for work.
The transport organisation states that, “Temporary measures are necessary to help people get to work.” It fears for the difficulties that will be faced by the 48,000 drivers who take this trunk road each day.
From Monday, the tunnel will be closed to traffic both ways for 21 days. Substantial periods of disruption will follow as the works, staggered through to March 2018, will take place in several stages without necessitating complete closure. These works will be repeated over a month from May 30th through to July 3rd.
Touring explains, “The region ought really to have taken advantage of the summer holidays for this closure. Brussels City Council was however opposed to jeopardising the holding of the Midi Fair, which takes place over this period.” Touring laments the Council’s lack of vision and coordination in these closures.
The organisation is worried about the lack of measures which are aimed at assisting traffic flow. By this, Touring is referring to, for example, adapting traffic lights on the roads on surfaces parallel to the tunnel route, traffic being allowed to use bus lanes or the presence of police at crossroads located on the route affected.
Moreover Touring is arguing for commuters to be allowed to use (for free) car parks located on the periphery and close to a metro station, such as the car parks near the Ceria and Erasmus metro stations or those in the shopping centres.
The organisation is also requesting the strengthening of metro and tram capacity to absorb additional commuters.
The Brussels Times
