The R1 is the

ring road A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist in reducin ...

around the city of

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 ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. The ring road is not complete; however, its completion is planned with the long running proposed construction of the

Oosterweel Link The Oosterweel Link is a construction project first proposed in 1996, intended to complete the R1 Antwerp Ring Road in Antwerp, Belgium. The firm Antwerp Mobility Management Company (name changed to Lantis in 2019), is the Flemish Government co ...

which would cross the

Scheldt The Scheldt ( ; ; ) is a river that flows through northern France, western Belgium, and the southwestern part of Netherlands, the Netherlands, with its mouth at the North Sea. Its name is derived from an adjective corresponding to Old Englis ...

river. The existing Scheldt crossing is via the Kennedy Tunnel. The road is largely built on the area of the former Brialmont Fortress around the city of Antwerp, which was constructed between 1859 and 1863. In the course of planning the procurement of the construction works, the Flemish authorities raised several queries with the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

, intending to ensure that their plans did not conflict with EU public procurement law. One query related to their proposal to award a

concession contract A concession or concession agreement is a grant of rights, land, property, or facility by a government, local authority, corporation, individual or other legal entity. Public services such as water supply may be operated as a concession. In the ...

, without market consultation, to SA Tunnel Liefkenshoek for the construction and operation of a new link from the River Scheldt to Antwerp, in reply to which it was confirmed that the proposed concession was "unlikely to give rise to problems of compatibiloty with European public procurement law".European Commission
Joint press release from Commissioner Barnier and Kris Peeters, Minister-President of the Government of the Flemish Region, concerning the Oosterweel project (completion of the Antwerp Ring)
published 4 November 2013, accessed 24 December 2020 In order to diminish

particulate matter Particulate matter (PM) or particulates are microscopic particles of solid or liquid matter suspended in the air. An ''aerosol'' is a mixture of particulates and air, as opposed to the particulate matter alone, though it is sometimes defin ...

and noise disturbance, the

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

Ringland has demanded that the ring road should be fully roofed. Ring Antwerpen 4juni2006

References

See also