2021.06.17 - Over the past few months, work has started at various points along the Canal to create new, more efficient links between different districts. These bridges over the waterway will be accessible to cyclists and connected to the regional cycle route which runs along the banks of the Canal.
- The first of these structures, the Suzan Daniel Bridge, will create a link – including for public transport – between Avenue du Port and Boulevard Simon Bolivar on one bank and Rue Picard on the other. The result will be more direct flows between the Gare du Nord railway station and the districts around Tour & Taxis. The project, which entered its final construction phase in April with the installation of the main span, was initiated in autumn 2019, with a budget of 6,750,000 euros. The work has been done under the direction of the architecture firm Greisch. Like the other new bridges over the Canal, it was made in workshops located in Ghent. The imposing prefabricated structures were then transported by barge down the Canal, before being installed by crane boats. For more information: Latest news and video + Complete report.
- The second of these structures, the Porte de Ninove footbridge, is located near the building of the former Belle-Vue brewery and not far from Mima (the Millennium Iconoclast Museum of Art). It provides an additional link between the Molenbeek Saint-Jean and City of Brussels municipalities. The work, carried out under the direction of Arcadis, began in summer 2020 and is due to be completed in summer 2021. For more information: Latest news and video + Complete report.
- Work on the last of the three bridges, the Comte de Flandre footbridge, also supervised by Arcadis, is due to be completed in October. The footbridge, which continues the line of Rue Sainte-Marie, also links Molenbeek and the City of Brussels, near the Comte de Flandre tram stop. For more information: Latest news and video + Complete report.
(J.J.)
