There was no skiing in Tervuren this season. With installation running till April, the official opening of the €5.4 million project, encompassing Tervuren’s €2.5 million ‘Ski Hut’, also risks extending beyond June.
And there’s no exact date nor inauguration committee established yet for the opening, Tervuren+ has learnt. Who will inaugurate the bridge? There’s a chance that Flanders’ mobility and construction minister, Lydia Peeters, will do the honors herself, just ahead of elections on 9 June. And maybe they also allow Tervuren’s grandees, including the mayor, for the photo opportunity.
The ski hut is obviously only an imaginary ski hut for drivers caught dreaming in the busy junction’s never-ending traffic. The bicycle and pedestrian bridge consists entirely of wood, the first wooden bicycle bridge of such a size in Flanders.
Is ski hut a suitable name? “That’s what the media made of it,” says Marijn Struyf, spokesperson for the Flemish road construction agency Werkvennootschap. “The atmosphere of a ski lodge is certainly not what we want to achieve,” Marijn tells Tervuren+. He lets slip that ‘birdhouse’ might have been a more appropriate name, given the bridge crosses into Tervuren’s beautiful Sonian forest.
If finished on time, the eye catcher, with tens of thousands of motorists passing by, could be a great photo opportunity ahead of Belgium’s 9 June Flemish and federal elections. It’s also meant as a symbol of modal transport shift towards more sustainable forms of transport such as e-scooters, e-bikes and company EVs.
Weighing 290 tons, including furnishings, the wood used to make the bridge hails from German firm Holzbau Amann, based just north of Zürich. And even if the F29 ‘cycle motorway’ has received EU funds, no European money was used for the bridge itself. Only late King Baudouin’s fund chipped in a tidy €494,802.
Many local cyclists would have preferred the €2.5 million to be spent on a safe forest cycle path, not prone to slippery mud. Or real safety enhancements while passing the insanely perilous Tram Museum. But that’s in the Brussels region and the Flemish construction agency insists the Four Arms crossroads is worth spending money on as a dangerous point for cyclists.
There’s no way I’d feel safe in that thing even in daylight. Before starting these expensive projects was there a gender-balanced focus group asking cyclists what they thought?” asks one Tervuren+ reader.
“That’s why we are making a safe crossing at the intersection thanks to construction of the new bicycle bridge,” says the Werkvennootschap.
Tervuren+ readers were puzzled by the bridge. Why is there a roof, when cyclists ride in the open anyway? What a ridiculous way to spend a lot of money when there are so many other dangerous points to tackle on the daily commute to Brussels?
“There’s no way I’d feel safe in that thing even in daylight. Before starting these expensive projects was there a gender-balanced focus group asking cyclists what they thought?” asks another Tervuren+ reader.
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