F23 Bicycle highway
Canal route North
The ‘Werken aan de Ring’ programme aims to provide better cycling infrastructure. We are building safe bicycle paths and comfortable bicycle bridges and tunnels. They will enable you to cycle quickly and smoothly along and across the Ring. This is how we plan to offer road users a worthy alternative to the car and to gradually reduce the number of cars on the Ring. The construction of the F23 bicycle highway is part of this ambition.
Cycling along the canal in Vilvoorde
In the future, Canal Route North (F23) will connect Boom and Brussels. The section we are building within the ‘Werken aan de Ring’ programme runs along the N260 (Brusselsesteenweg — Westvaartdijk) and will connect the Verbrande Brug in Grimbergen via Vilvoorde to the Brussels Capital Region.
- Other cycling routes branch off at various places.
- There are bus stops along the route and transfers to the Ringtram bus will also be possible.
- Thanks to the construction of a 450m long bicycle slot with two bicycle tunnels, we separate cyclists from freight traffic to and from the Veolia sites.
- The planting of hedges, trees and grasses in the areas around the bicycle highway will provide a pleasant cycling experience.
Phasing
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Project largely completed
Over the past three years, the N260 between the viaduct and the Verbrande Brug has undergone a real metamorphosis. Part of this 4 km long route was tackled in separate sub-phases.
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Bicycle Tunnel at Veolia (Suez - Valomac)
Only along the industrial zone Westvaartdijk on Grimbergen territory, between the Fabrieksweg and the Industrieweg, a last part of the F23 still needs to be built. Here the bicycle highway will have a 450m long bicycle slot with two tunnel constructions under the ramps of Suez & Valomac (Veolia) to cross the many freight traffic in complete safety.
The construction of this tunnel will take more than a year and will start mid April 2023. After that, from mid-2024, the new road infrastructure and the last section of the F23 bicycle highway can be completed.
Technical plans via downloads
Cyclists
Until after the summer of 2024, cyclists will have a temporary route between the Verbrande Brug and the Schakelsweg in Borgt. The last part of the bicycle highway along the canal can only be built after the construction of the bicycle slot with two tunnels under the ramps for freight traffic of Veolia (Suez - Valomac).
Motorized traffic
Since November 2022, the main route for traffic has been running around the Westvaartdijk industrial zone instead of along the canal. Until the end of the works (construction of the bicycle tunnel and finishing bicycle highway), local traffic will remain possible along the canal side of the industrial zone.
Please note! that after completion of the works it will no longer be possible to continue to follow the canal from the Verbrande Brug, because the N260 will become a one-way road between Indaver and Industrieweg to the Verbrande Brug.