Starting this month, Flanders plans some 240km of roadworks on the region's motorways, mainly in East and West Flanders and on the Brussels Ring. To minimise disruption, the works have been largely planned for the school holidays, one of which has just started. From today, work starts on the placement of noise barriers and works on the central reservation on the E17 between Kruibeke and Antwerp West, leading to reduced lane-width and speed restrictions lasting 15 months.
From March to May, serious disruption is expected on the E40 at Zwijnaarde, where a bridge over the Scheldt is being maintained. The hard shoulder will be closed, as will the E17-E40 interchange for traffic coming from Kortrijk.
In Limburg, serious disruption is awaited on the E314 Lummen – Heusden-Zolder, with two narrowed lanes in each direction. The evening rush hour is particularly to be avoided.
On the Ring at Drogenbos, traffic is reduced to one lane in each direction, with the closure of the on and off roads at the Ruisbroek interchange. Works will last nine nights.
In Wallonia, the placement of a protective roof on the N5 at the Genappe exit will cause reduced carriageways on the Ring in both directions from Saturday morning to Sunday afternoon.
Saturday also sees the replacement of noise-reducing barriers on the Ring at Waterloo on a stretch of about 1km. One lane in the direction of Haut Ittre will be closed, as well as the Waterloo on-road number 27. A detour is in place via the N253. The works from 2 to 10 March concerns felling trees, with other phases coming later in June and August.
Meanwhile, March sees the introduction of several new changes.
- Service cheques issued after March 1 are now valid for one year; older cheques are only valid for eight months;
• Families can expect to pay about seven euros more in Flanders and five euros in Wallonia for the part of their electricity bill concerned with transmission costs. However as the cost of some other parts of the bill went down in January, the annual net effect is likely to be a benefit;
• A new law on a mobility budget comes into force with a vote of parliament, although the effect will only be felt in April. The measure allows anyone eligible for a company car to spend the money instead on alternative means of home-work transport;
• As well as the kilometres travelled by a car, the Car-Pass will now include other information, the pollution-related Euronorm and CO2 emissions, and details of repairs carried out after a serious accident;• - Finally, customers using Proximus Pay&Go+ can now enjoy a tenfold increase in their data allowance if they recharge online.
The Brussels Times
