Walloon Brabant studies network of cycle routes

SPW Mobilité, the Public Service for Walloon Mobility, is completing a study on the creation of a network of cycle routes in Walloon Brabant, writes the newspaper L’Avenir. The initiative was developed in consultation with the province, 27 municipalities, and stakeholders, such as the cycling association Gracq and NMBS/SNCB.

Compared to Flanders, Wallonia lags in promoting the bicycle as a means of transport, even though the previous Walloon government provided a budget of 80 million euros for the construction of ‘bicycle highways’.

Attractive alternative to car use

Wallonia already has a large-scale RAVeL, a 1,500 km network of green lanes with interchanges whose objectives are primarily tourist. This time, the intention is to create ‘cyclostrades’ and supra-local bicycle links, hopefully ready by 2040.

Such ‘bicycle highways,’ cycle tracks that run along roads and are usually separated from automobile traffic make it possible to connect important poles such as cities, universities, zoning districts, and stations. Supra-local connections do the same but over shorter distances.

The first Walloon section of the ‘cyclos trade’ was inaugurated in La Hulpe, near Solvay Castle, in May last year. In January, works also began along the E411 and the N4. This axis should make it possible to reach Louvain-la-Neuve from Wavre by bicycle starting in the spring of 2025. There is also a project for a ‘cyclos trade’ between Brussels and Namur.

Such bicycle routes are part of the Regional Mobility Strategy, which aims to increase bicycle use by five percent and reduce car use for daily trips by 23% by 2030. The work begins in the Walloon Brabant region, but the goal is to roll out the bicycle network throughout Wallonia.

Great interest

The public consultation for the network in question is ongoing until August 15th, and interest is relatively high: more than 600 people have registered on the Internet portal, and more than 1,000 responses have been registered so far. After analyzing the responses, all the stakeholders will prepare a final map.

However, the study and associated map of bicycle connections do not imply any political or budgetary commitment. It remains the responsibility of the new Walloon government to provide the funds for the improvements to be made to regional roads and the municipalities for their own roads.