The Flemish government will invest 335 million euros in cycling infrastructure next year, after the 100 million mark was first passed in 2017. For example, Minister of Mobility Lydia Peeters (Open VLD) wants to get rid of the ‘pitifully bad’ report that the cycle paths are getting today.
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Of the 4.3 billion euros in ‘recovery’ investments which the Flemish government announced this week, 885 million will go to the mobility policy. “All that money must be sent out before the end of 2021,” says Minister Lydia Peeters (Open VLD). As a result, the investment budget for cycling infrastructure will increase to 335 million euros next year. This means that the target will be reached halfway through the end of the legislature, and the budget for the bicycle will be tripled in four years.
The money does not come too soon. According to the latter Bicycle report from the Flemish Agency for Roads and Traffic Today, only 45 percent of bicycle paths comply with the rules imposed on themselves by the government, and one in ten is now in ‘very bad condition’. ‘A very bad report and thick tubes,’ says Peeters. ” The Flemish have rediscovered the bicycle and we must maintain that trend. ‘
In order to avoid all that money remaining in the account because expropriation procedures hinder the construction of new cycle paths, the Flemish Parliament has proposed a decree limiting the mediation period in such files to one year.
Bridges over the Albert Canal
In addition to the bicycle investments, 300 million euros extra will also go to road safety: to accelerate the removal of the 479 black intersections along Flemish roads, but also to make school environments safer and to install ‘smart’ traffic lights. Finally, a third time of 300 million euros will be invested additionally in, among other things, hybrid buses for De Lijn, LED lighting along regional roads and in raising the bridges over the Albert Canal. The latter should make it possible to significantly increase the volume of freight traffic over water.
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