Leonard Tunnel on Brussels ringroad reopens, but disruption “not yet a thing of the past”

Over the past two weeks, the supports between the tunnel on the E411 and the Brussels Ring Road tunnel were replaced.

"The Leonard Tunnel consists of 2 levels with steel supports in between. These were replaced during the past 2 weeks. It’s a very big job, because the weight of the upper tunnel had to be placed on temporary jacks to allow us to build the new supports in the meantime," Anton De Coster of the roads and traffic agency explained on Monday.

"The works will be completed tonight. That means that, if everything goes well, we can reopen the tunnel to traffic tomorrow around 5.30am. So people will be able to drive normally, underground, under the Leonard intersection once again from then on."

However, there will still be traffic disruption near the Leonard intersection and in the tunnel: "On the inner ring road, one lane remains closed between the Vierarmen Tunnel and the Leonard Tunnel. So for anyone coming from Zaventem and driving towards Waterloo, there will continue to be traffic disruption," Mr De Coster said.

No more major works for 30 years!

It will be a while before the works are completely finished.

"We are working on the entrance to the Leonard Tunnel next, and in the summer the floor slabs are undergoing major maintenance. There will be a lot of traffic disruption at least until the end of October 2024. Then we will start on the maintenance of the E411 Tunnel, we have more space there and there will be less disruption."

The prospects are good: once the work is fully completed, no major work will be needed for several decades. "The tunnel is about 50 years old and used very intensively. 100,000 people drive through it every day. This is its first major renovation. After the work, the tunnel will be ready for another 30 years of intensive use without any major works except minor maintenance at night."