A permit has been granted for the redevelopment of Rue Belliard, undoubtedly one of the busiest streets in the Brussels Region. The road has gone from five to four lanes, but the latest renewal fails to reduce this to three.
Rue Belliard is a motor-way-like road that runs parallel with Rue de la Loi, from the city centre of Brussels, from the east of Parc Royal at the Small Ring Road to the north of Parc Léopold near the European institutions, Last week, the urban planning department urban.brussels issued a permit for the redevelopment of the street, still giving little space to pedestrians and cyclists.
In 2019, former State Secretary for Urbanisation Pascal Smet (One.brussels/Vooruit) decided to remove one of the five car lanes for a provisional reconstruction with concrete blocks and segregated bicycle lanes in both directions, which is still in place today. There were hopes that a future change would bring down the number to three lanes, but the works that received a permit will still give four lanes to car traffic.
For now, the temporary cycle path between the Small Ring Road and the entrance to the Belliard tunnel, the first and busiest part of the street, will be extended and the concrete blocks protecting the cyclists will be replaced by coping stones as in Rue de la Loi, Bruzz reported.
Translation: "Permit for bike lanes on Rue Belliard. The temporary bike lanes Pascal Smet put there in 2019 are now permanent. The next step should be a full reconstruction with lane less, wider pavements & even more room for cyclists."
Second, greener part
Mobility Minister Elke Van den Brandt welcomed the permit for the redevelopment and stated that it is still the ambition to reduce the number of lanes to three in time. That should then create space for wider pavements and trees in the street.
"For the first section, between the Small Ring Road and Place Jean Rey, the four-lane reconstruction will be a lot more qualitative," she said. "For the second section, between Place Jean Rey and Cinquantenaire Park, we have made huge strides: uphill, we are creating a separated bike path, replacing the temporary cycle path, and planting a row of trees. Downhill, we are also creating a new bicycle path."
The current plans have been designed in such a way that such a future adaptation to three lanes can easily be achieved, but it will be up to the next Brussels government to decide when to start work on this.
The temporary nature of the cycling lanes has persisted due to disagreements between the region and the City of Brussels, which fears the accessibility of the centre in the case of three lanes, and that this will lead to more traffic jams clogging up the city centre near the Small Ring Road.
