From Saturday night to Monday morning, forget about heading southbound on Antwerp’s infamous ring road. The same is true for northbound until Sunday morning
You might have thought that traffic in and around the Kennedy Tunnel in Antwerp could not get worse. But you’d be wrong. Starting at 21.00 tomorrow, 05 July, the R1 around the Kennedy Tunnel will be restricted to one lane in both directions.
Those heading towards the Netherlands will see relief on the road from 8.00 Sunday morning. But those headed towards Ghent will have to wait until 5.00 on Monday to expect to move more than an inch at a time.
Detour via Brussels
The reason is works to the concrete slabs that make up the road. Works started last weekend on Friday evening and created such chaos that the Flemish Roads and Traffic Agency decided to start works this weekend only from Saturday evening. This means there won’t be time to complete the works, leaving the agency searching for a time to do that in future.
In any case, the agency suggests not going anywhere near the Kennedy Tunnel from 21.00 on Saturday to 8.00 on Sunday and to avoid heading southbound until early Monday morning. Traffic wanting to head from the east towards Ghent on Sunday should detour via Brussels.