When road signs on motorways and highway in Flanders are replaced the new the signs will in future show the name of the destination town or city in the official language spoken there. This should help bring to an end the confusion that sometimes arises among motorists, especially from abroad, when they see signs for “Luik” or “Namen” rather than “Liège” or “Namur”.
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In future road signs in Flanders will show destinations in the language that is spoken there
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Up until now road signs in Flanders have shown the Dutch version of the names of towns and cities in Wallonia or in neighboring countries where another language is spoken such as France or Germany.
Sometimes, but not always this is followed by the name of the city in the language that this spoken there, usually in italic script and/or brackets. For example, on the E19 between Brussels and Halle (Flemish Brabant) there are signs for “Parijs (Paris)” and on the E17 in East and West Flanders there are signs for “Rijsel (Lille)”. This will now change and every time major roadworks are carried out and road signs are replaced the new signs will only show the name of the destination in the language spoked there.
So, it is goodbye Bergen, Aat, Doornik, Namen, Hoei, Luik and Waver and hello Mons, Ath, Tournai, Namur, Huy, Liège and Wavre. The first signs to be changed at a high-profile intersection are at the Antwerp-West interchange on the Antwerp Orbital Motorway. There signs directing motorists to the E313 motorway that links Antwerp with Hasselt (Limburg Province) and Liège now no longer display the Dutch translation of Liège (Luik), but rather only the French version of the city’s names as French is the official language there.
The decision is not new, but it is the first time that the changes have been made at such a busy motorway intersection. Hence the attention that they change has attracted. The Flemish Roads and Traffic Agency will change its signs gradually, replacing them only when this is necessary or as part of major roadworks projects.
The Agency ’s Katrien Kiekens told VRT News that “We want to use the language of destination more often for cities on road signs. This avoids using double names such as Liège-Luik, Gent-Gand and Rijsel-Lille that fills the signs with too much unnecessary information”. Furthermore, using use one version of a town or city’s name makes life easier for motorists from abroad.