Temperatures are predicted to drop below 0°C from next week, spurring Brussels Mobility to ensure the safety of road users by gritting roads throughout the capital.
From Monday, a depression will move to Belgium from the British Isles with plenty of precipitation, resulting in melting snow in the east of the country. By Wednesday, these wintry showers will become more widespread. In the centre of Belgium, including in Brussels, temperatures will drop to -2°C at night.
Ahead of the cold snap, Brussels Mobility announced on Friday that it would start to prepare for the first preventive spraying operations on the roads. These are likely to take place towards the end of the weekend or early next week, depending on how the weather develops, the administration announced in a press statement.
"Our aim is to guarantee the mobility and safety of all road users: motorists, public transport users, cyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians, even when weather conditions are very bad," Elke Vandenbrandt, Brussels Minister for Mobility.
"At the same time, we want to limit the impact on the environment. Thus, the road salt is delivered by waterway and via the Port of Brussels and no longer by road."
Special system for bicycle lanes
The road authority's teams are mobilised 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to ensure good traffic flow in the event of winter conditions. They are closely monitoring alerts to carry out preventive spraying, mainly at night.
Brussels Mobility grits all regional roads with salt: main roads, major intersections, tunnels and viaducts. To treat the road on its entire network, it has around 3,000 tonnes of salt in its depots with which it can cover over 800 km of roads (main roads, major junctions, tunnels and viaducts) in 3.5 hours via 17 circuits.
Some 18 additional routes are also dedicated to clearing snow from cycle paths. The routes are being extended year on year to include new cycle infrastructure and special salt and targeted machines are used for this purpose. Brussels Mobility is modernising its machinery with more precise amounts of salt and adapting it to the road or cycle path width.
"In this way, Brussels Mobility wants to encourage cyclists to keep cycling even in winter," the administration explained. It is also training additional staff every year to be prepared for all weather conditions.
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To ensure that gritting can be carried out in complete safety, Brussels Mobility is asking motorists "to be patient if they are behind a spreader, to keep their distance from the back of the spreading lorry, and not to honk or try to overtake."
The general rule of keeping the pavement in front of house doors free of snow and ice will once again apply this year. In apartment buildings, this is usually done by the occupant of the ground floor, the caretaker or the property manager.
