The A1 is a major Belgian

motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms ...

linking the

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

and then to the Dutch border at

Hazeldonk/Meer Hazeldonk (as it is called in the Netherlands) or Meer (as it is called in Belgium) is the busiest border crossing between the Netherlands and Belgium. It sees an average of 55,000 vehicles per day, with some sources suggesting it as one of t ...

turning to the A16 in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. The motorway is a part of the E19.

The central reservation

Remarkable between Antwerp and Brussels is the exceptional broad

central reservation A median strip, central reservation, roadway median, or traffic median is the reserved area that separates opposing lanes of traffic on divided roadways such as divided highways, dual carriageways, freeways, and motorways. The term also ap ...

(40 m wide over a length of about 35 km). The original plans for the A1 dating from the beginning of the 1970s were based on unrealistic growth scenarios. The central reservation was meant for eventual lanes for traffic from Brussels to Antwerp (and vice versa), with only ramps in

Mechelen Mechelen (; ; historically known as ''Mechlin'' in EnglishMechelen has been known in English as ''Mechlin'', from where the adjective ''Mechlinian'' is derived. This name may still be used, especially in a traditional or historical context. T ...

(which explains the complex interchange in Mechelen-North and South). Only between Antwerp and Kontich, the middle lanes were built with 2 x 2 lanes, but these were merged in 2011. The rest of the track was not built in spite of the increased traffic. Because the

Brussels Ring The Brussels Ring ( or ; ), numbered R0, is a ring road surrounding the Brussels-Capital Region, as well as other smaller towns south of Brussels. It is about long, with two or three lanes in each direction. While most of it is classified a ...

and Antwerp Ring can already no longer manage the traffic at certain times, the "super motorway" would do nothing but move the traffic jams from the A1 to the interchanges near Antwerp and Brussels. This broad central reservation, including the unnecessarily long bridges over the A1, along with the partly unused interchange in Mechelen and the lamps that light the unused central reservation, is an

urban planning Urban planning (also called city planning in some contexts) is the process of developing and designing land use and the built environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportatio ...

blunder. The unused lamps were taken out in 2006. Shortly after the Dutroux affair, in 1997, trees have been planted on a part of the central reservation in commemoration of killed children, the so-called ''"Witte Kinderbos"'' ("White Children's Forest"). On the central reservation between Zemst and Brussels, a railway has been built between 2007 and 2012 that is part of the new high-speed connection from Antwerp to

Brussels Airport Brussels Airport is the main international airport of Belgium. It is located in the municipality of Zaventem in Flemish Brabant, northeast of Brussels. Also informally known as Brussels-National Airport or Brussels-Zaventem Airport, Brussels ...

, known as the

Diabolo project The Diabolo project created a new railway line serving Brussels National Airport. It is so called because of its shape, resembling a Chinese yo-yo: the line forms a chord between the Brussels-Leuven line 36 going east and the new Brussels-A ...

. Thereby, a part of the ''Witte Kinderbos'' disappeared and was replaced by green spaces between the A1 and the adjacent residential areas. The biggest part of the forest is between Mechelen and Antwerp and remained.

Pictures

File:Machelen (bord).jpg, A1 near the interchange of Machelen File:Craeybeckxtunnel_zuidingang_07-2009.jpg, Craeybeckx Tunnel in the direction of Antwerp File:Dijle (motorway bridge near Mechelen).jpg, Viaduct over the Dijle near Mechelen

External links

* (Dutch
History of the A1-E19 on Wegen-Routes.be
* (Dutch
Information
about the broad

on the website of the

Flemish government The Flemish Government ( ) is the executive branch of the Flemish Community and the Flemish Region of Belgium. It consists of a government cabinet, headed by the Minister-President of Flanders, Minister-President and accountable to the Flemish Par ...

{{Motorways in Belgium Motorways in Belgium