The Brussels Transport Minister Elke Van den Brandt (Flemish green) has asked her Flemish counterpart Lydia Peeters (liberal) for an urgent meeting to discuss the start of roadworks at the Leonard Tunnel on the Brussels Orbital Motorway. The tunnel is at the intersection of the Orbital Motorway and the E411 Brussels to Luxembourg motorway. It is situated on the border between Oudergem (Brussels) and Tervuren (Flemish Brabant). On Monday the municipal authorities in Oudergem had demanded that the work be suspended until better alternatives had been found for the diverted traffic.
Talks between Flemish and Brussels Governments planned amid fears of traffic chaos due to roadworks at Leonard Tunnel
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The meeting between the two regional authorities will take place this Friday. The municipal authorities from Watermaal-Bosvoorde and Oudergem will also be invited to the meeting.
On Tuesday 16 April work is due to get under way on the slip road between the southbound E411 and the Waterloo-bound carriageway of the Brussels Orbital. The municipal authorities in Oudergem say that this will cause major traffic issues there as motorists seek alternative routes. They say that start of another stage of the work around the Leonard intersection on 18 March has already shown that any changes on the E411 have a big impact on Oudergem.
The Mayor of Oudergem Sophie De Vos (Francophone federalist) says that both now and in March the Flemish Government inform Oudergem much too late that it was about to start roadworks on the motorway.
The Flemish Transport Minister Lydia Peeters said on Tuesday that she has no intention of suspending the roadworks. She adds that the work is part of a wider project that has been widely publisised. The Flemish Highways and Traffic Agency stresses that it has been in contact with the various police services, municipal authorities and other stakeholders both in the Flemish and in the Brussels-Capital Region.