Bicycle highway F1 between Antwerp and Brussels will be completed
The F1 bicycle highway, which connects Antwerp to Brussels via Mechelen, will be given an extra piece of road in Vilvoorde. The first spade of the works was officially given on Monday by the Vilvoord city council and the province of Flemish Brabant.
The F1 follows the towpath of the river Zenne in Vilvoorde to the Marius Duchéstraat. Cyclists have to ride through a few small streets in the center of Vilvoorde from that point, after which they can attack again on the F1 at Vlaanderenstraat.
Thanks to the new section of bicycle highway, that is over: between the Radiatorenstraat, where the Marius Duchéstraat departs, and the Vlaanderenstraat, a new route of 1.2 kilometers of bicycle paths will be constructed. At the end of the Zenne, the cycle path follows the Brussels-Scheldt canal to Sint-Jans-Molenbeek, Brussels. The new section of bicycle highway will be connected to the neighborhood at four points. One connection will be with the Zenne car park and two connections will be in Slachthuisstraat.
The last point will be connected to the parking lot in the Achterham. At the same time, the construction of the bicycle highway is seen as an opportunity to give the unknown Forges de Clabecq site a new destination. The city council of Vilvoorde is in consultation with partners to prepare a spatial implementation plan.
“This plan seeks a combination between a safe green buffer area in which the Zenne is moved north of the new cycle route,” says mayor Hans Bonte (Vooruit). “This makes future-oriented new economic development possible.”
The cost of the project, borne entirely by the province of Flemish Brabant, amounts to 1.2 million euros. The Vilvoord city council is providing 140,000 euros for a new Finnish track, which will be north of the new F1 section. The end of the works is scheduled for July 2023.