The renovated Annie Cordy tunnel, which used to be called the Leopold II tunnel, was officially inaugurated on Sunday afternoon. The ribbon at the entrance of the tunnel was cut at 12 noon on Sunday by the niece of singer Annie Cordy. Numerous Brussels politicians were also present, including Bernard Clerfayt (Défi), Pascal Smet (one.brussels), Nawal Ben Hamou (PS) and Elke Van den Brandt (Green).

The renovation works on the tunnel, which started in 2018 and were completed at the end of February, cost about 500 million euros. Built in 1986, the tunnel now has 18 emergency exits, 12 of which are new.

More than 1,500 people also took part in the sponsored walk through the tunnel on Sunday. Proceeds go to Pink Ribbon. During the walk, songs by Annie Cordy sound in the tunnel.

feminization

The Brussels region and the city of Brussels have been working on feminising and decolonizing public space for some time now. The campaign gained momentum in 2020 with ‘More Woman on the Street’, in which Sofie Lemaire went to war to design more female street names across the country.

In Brussels, singer Annie Cordy came out as the winner of the tribe for the name change in March last year. Eleven female names were shortlisted. A total of 30,715 votes were cast, of which 22.59 percent went to the Belgian singer and actress.

The Annie Cordytunnel is 2.6 kilometers longest in Belgium. About 60,000 vehicles pass through it every day.