Less car and freight traffic, but still more traffic jams: How is this possible?

“A little less traffic and more traffic jams: it’s a paradox, but these results in themselves make perfect sense,” says Hajo Beckmann, VRT’s traffic editor. “On a fully saturated motorway network, you’d definitely notice a 3 percent reduction in traffic.”

But this effect was completely nullified. exceptionally wet weather “During the fall of 2023 and spring of 2024,” Beckman says, “especially during rush hour, this creates the dreaded rainy traffic jams that can be up to 50 percent longer than in a dry weather situation. I notice that every time I broadcast traffic bulletins on our radio networks, you can set the clock through them.

also Activities The Flemish government has recently launched an ambitious but urgently needed programme to renovate outdated bridges and tunnels, often on highways prone to traffic congestion.

Just think of the Leonhard Tunnel near Brussels and the Beveren Tunnel on the Antwerp Ring Road. These projects sometimes take several years. The contractor won’t be ready to build the Vilvoorde viaduct until 2031. And of course there’s also the construction of the Oosterweel link in Antwerp (until 2031) and the planned renewal of the ring around Brussels, which could last well beyond 2030.

The third explanation for the increase in traffic congestion is: IncidentsIn the chart below, you can see that the traffic center has counted up to 5,700 working days (excluding school holidays) in 2023, or 25 per day, but it also admits that this is an under-recording. Many small accidents that only cause damage to the eyes do not reach the ears and eyes of the police and the traffic center, but sometimes cause traffic disruption.