A1 motorway (Belgium)

Last updated
BE-A1.svg
A1
Dutch: Autosnelweg 1
French: Autoroute 1
Snelweg A1 Belgie.png
Route information
Part of BE-E19.svg E19
Maintained by the Roads and Traffic Agency of the Flemish government
Length666 km (414 mi)
Major junctions
North endNL-A16.svg A 16 at Dutch border Beaconsfield Seer green
Major intersections AB-AS.svg 1a Transportzone Meer

AB-AS.svg 1 Meer BE-N146.svg N146
AB-AS.svg 2 Loenhout BE-N144.svg N144
AB-AS.svg 3BE-N115b.svg N115b
AB-AS.svg 4 Sint-Job-in-'t-Goor BE-N117.svg N117
AB-AS.svg 5 Kleine Bareel BE-N1.svgBE-N11.svg N1  / N11
AB-Kreuz.svg Antwerpen-Noord junction BE-A12.svg A12
Multiplex with BE-A12.svg A12 and BE-R1.svg R1
AB-Kreuz.svg Antwerpen-Zuid junction BE-E34.svgBE-R1.svgBE-A12.svgBE-N1.svgBE-N155.svgBE-R10.svg E34  / R1  / A12  / N1  / N155  / R10
AB-AS.svg 6 Wilrijk BE-R11.svg R11
AB-AS.svg 6a U.Z.A. BE-N106.svg N106
AB-AS.svg 7 Kontich BE-N171.svg N171
AB-AS.svg 8 Rumst BE-N1.svgBE-N1c.svg N1  / N1c
AB-AS.svg 9 Mechelen-Noord BE-R6.svgBE-N1.svgBE-N16.svg R6  / N1  / N16
AB-AS.svg 10 Mechelen-Zuid B101 BE-N1.svgBE-N109.svg N1  / N109
AB-AS.svg 11 Zemst BE-N227.svgBE-N267.svg N227  / N267

Contents

AB-AS.svg 12 Vilvoorde-Luchthavenlaan BE-N21.svgBE-N211.svg N21  / N211 M40 Motorway
South end AB-Kreuz.svg Machelen junction BE-R0.svg R0
Location
Country Belgium
Highway system
  • Highways of Belgium

The A1 is a major Belgian motorway linking the capital Brussels to Antwerp and then to the Dutch border at Hazeldonk/Meer turning to the A16 in the Netherlands. The motorway is a part of the E19.

The central reservation

Remarkable between Antwerp and Brussels is the exceptional broad central reservation (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 (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 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 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, known as the Diabolo project. 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