Brussels' Reyers viaduct to be demolished

The Reyers viaduct on the inner ring in Brussels between Montgomeryplein/Square Montgomery and Meiserplein/Place Meiser will be demolished before next summer, the Brussels-Capital Region government has announced.

The viaduct dates back to 1970 and is in a poor state of repair. Last month, Brussels’ mobility minister, Pascal Smet, called a halt to repair works to the road surface after it was revealed that the works would take longer and cost double the initial estimate of €2 million.

“Given the deplorable state of the structure, we have to ask whether the current renovation work will be enough to keep it in working order over the long term,” said Smet. “Local residents will definitely benefit if the viaduct is demolished and replaced by a city boulevard.”

That decision has now been taken. The viaduct, built to allow traffic to bypass the busy crossroads between Schaarbeek/Schaerbeek, Etterbeek and Sint-Lambrechts-Woluwe/Woluwe-Saint-Lambert and the approach to the E40 will now be dismantled and the boulevard relaid.

Those works will cost an estimated €21 million. According to the region, the viaduct has a capacity of 3,000 cars an hour but in fact only carries 1,400 – traffic that could easily be supported by a boulevard of two lanes in each direction.

Brussels minister-president Rudi Vervoort said that a mobility study will be carried out, which will be followed by a timeline for works. The works are certain to be a major source of traffic disruption, and any study will also have to take account of plans to develop the nearby VRT-RTBF site and a proposal to build a tunnel under Meiserplein/Place Meiser 700 metres away.