The small street that runs between PXL campus buildings and student housing in Hasselt is being transformed into a car-free zone with more green space and easy access to the swimming pool and Kapermolenpark
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Hasselt’s Elfde-Liniestraat to close as works continue on new car-free zone
Lisa Bradshaw
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Starting next Monday, 22 June, the Elfde-Liniestraat in Hasselt will close to traffic – not just temporarily but for good. The street that connects the city’s outer ring road (R71) with the Koning Boudewijnlaan – taking in the PXL university-college, a sports school and student housing – is being transformed into a car-free zone.
The idea is to create a campus boulevard with green space and improved access to educational institutions, the Kapermolenpark and the community swimming pool. The project is part of Limburg’s efforts to valorise the public transport system and improve accessibility for pedestrians and cyclists.
We are creating a green lung near the city centre
City councillor Kevin Schouterden
Busses will still ride along Elfde-Liniestraat, alongside wider cycle paths and pavements. “We are creating a green lung near the city centre,” says city councillor for mobility Kevin Schouterden (Vooruit). “The campus will be more accessible from the centre and there will be a new, greener space for students, area residents and visitors to the city.”
The works to Elfde-Liniestraat are part of a wider project for the whole neighbourhood that included repaving the Vildersstraat, which will be open to traffic again. The Koning Boudewijnlaan is also back open to traffic, following improvements to the thoroughfare, including new cycle paths.
Mobility shift
During the upcoming works, Elfde-Liniestraat will still be accessible by foot and by bike, as well as public transport on the Koning Boudewijnlaan and the ring road. City officials hope that the changes to the area will encourage more students to make us of public transport. Currently about half of PXL students arrive by car.
Elfde-Liniestraat will be dug up next week in the first stage of works to the sewers. This is expected to finish by September, when repaving and landscaping can begin. The street’s transformation should complete by next spring.