Traffic chaos as motorists in Brussels seek alternative routes

It was a difficult drive into work for thousands of motorists in and around Brussels on Monday morning. A number of arterial routes and the city’s inner ring round were chock-a-block, spelling big delays for commuters and locals alike.

The Brussels regional transport agency Brussel Mobiliteit says that the traffic issues were caused by the pedestrianisation of a large section of the main road that runs North to South through the city centre. Dozens of ajoining streets have also been pedestrianised in what has become the second largest pedestrianised zone in Europe after Venice.

Motorists travelling into Brussels from the west via the Keizer Karellaan faced an arduous drive in. Elsewhere both the Louizalaan and the Tervurenlaan were much busier than usual as was the inner ring road.

Brussel Mobiliteit’s Inge Paemen told the Brussels local radio station FM Brussel that “Insted of using the Anspachlaan to go from north to south people must now use the inner ring road. This of course means a lot of extra traffic which in turn shows that up until yesterday there was a lot of through traffic on the Anspachlaan.

However, Ms Paemen says that she expects that motorists will start to adapt their routes over the coming days and weeks as they get used to new situation.
 

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