I was born, raised, lived and worked in Antwerp for my entire life, and I’ve have never known something else than “traffic is awful” in my city, to the point I can’t even imagine it would change someday. I’m really curious wether this whole project will work out 🙂
When city decides to widen the roads, more people start using cars and here we go again. Never ending loop. There is no need for people to use personal cars in cities as the public transit systems can solve most of the transportation issues using much less space and much less money to build and maintain.
I highly doubt it will work. More lanes induce more drivers. It creates more demand and taps into latent demand. I honestly think it's a shame that this channel focusses so much on road projects which are not worth the money that is spent on them. It doesn't solve any issue, it only temporarily delays it. We already know this, the solution to traffic is not to make driving easier (which is never achieved anyways).
It should, I mean other cities around the world like in the USA have done a elevated highway/roadway delete and replaced the thru connections with tunnels or new high capacity roads at ground level.
I worked at the company that made the concrete molds for this tunnel (Hendriks). I didnt do that much for this project (it wasnt mine project) but I did design the stairs you see at 8:32. Quite nice to find my own work at one of my faforite youtube channels.
@@carlosandleon Depends. There are many place where the bus drives on its own road, away from cars, but on the places where there are crazy amounts of traffic, there is no seperate bus road. The bus uses the same road as the cars, so you will eventually end up in traffic. You can take the tram/metro and skip all of the traffic, yes, but it depends if you need to be in the city of Antwerp or elsewhere.
@@carlosandleonpublic transport isn't very great here, except trains. Maybe a tram can be faster but a bus won't. It's also quite expensive at €2,5 one way. Besides this a lot of people here get a car from their work with fuel included. More and more people are chosing to bike though.
Was born and raised in Antwerp. I work in Antwerp... and Now I am a small part of the Oosterweel through my job. Very cool to see this video. You have no idea of all the 'little' side infrastructure jobs linked to this massive project that are going on to this day.
this! I live about 5KM away from the ringroad and they repaved and straightend a bicycle tunnel as part of this project. The whole wide region is impacted by these works and all the little sideprojects that come with it.
I know €7B sounds like a lot, but here in the Northwest US, we're looking at that figure just for a single bridge. It's actually impressive the amount of public works Antwerp is getting for the price. At least from a US perspective.
Now tell them about how much money is spent over decades to "study" the problem of building a bridge. It's insane, and that money is almost never counted in reports that go to the public.
In addition to your excellent video: there’s not one huge park and ride, but instead a whole chain of those identical beasts built around the city, accompanied by large public transport hubs.
For the New Yorkers out there, 7 billion Euros equates to about a quarter mile of new subway track being built by the MTA, or three MTA engineering impact studies
good proof of why agencies like the MTA should have their own internal engineering and construction division. I am pretty sure when these contracts get drawn up the MTA is getting ripped off.
Almost any major construction project here in the States requires decades and decades and decades of "study" and even then, seldom does anything get built. Somebody is making money, and the taxpayer is receiving zero benefit.
Maybe interesting to mention, the big hole they dug to build the tunnel elements will later serve as a shipping dock. That's why you could see those rubbers hanging from that 1 concrete side
I'm incredibly thankful and super stoked that you've made a documentary about this!!! I didn't even know about this and I live in Flanders, near Zeebrugge. Absolutely insane and amazing construction! ❤
It's a fantastic project indeed, thank you for covering this! I'm glad it's being built, hower I have three concerns. 1. It's very car centric. In the long term, more lanes will make it worse for traffic. And the port of Antwerp will increase its trucks untill traffic is deadlock again, I'm afaird. 2. Projects like these work IF there are substantial investments in public transport. Our governments have failed to delivered on this one. 3. P+Rs are great IF people use public transport. Most of them remain empty. The city keeps building underground parkings which keeps incentivizing car journeys.
Excellent video, but misplacing Antwerp on the map 1:34 is a little bit awkward 😅it's a few km to the left, you know, that strategic point where there's water
I’m an engineering student at Ghent University (Belgium) and have been able to visit both construction sites (Zeebrugge and Antwerp) in depth... truly spectacular 😮
We live in the Netherlands but have family in France. Since one of my aunt's recently been in poor health my mom makes the four hour drive down to her in France once a month and she has to drive via/around Antwerp and EVERY TIME she finds herself stuck in traffic, no matter what time of the day or night she travels 😅
Yeah, and why is the dot for Antwerp on the map placed 15km east of the city? I think because on Apple Maps the label for the province 'Antwerp' is there.
Many times TH-camrs put things like this in videos so people "who are in the know" will comment and thus generate more views for the video. Damn i also commented, helping the algorithm.
This is not entirely true. The previous federal minister already announced back in 2021(?) that the freight cargo will be doubled. For that the minister invested a couple of milion to build more rails. This is the issue of Belgium: the rails are not part of what the Flemish government can invest in. That's the priority for infrabel, who is responsible for the roads. Nmbs (and another company, which the NMBS is shareholder of) is responsible for the trains and taking the cargo. But this is all the responsibility of the federal government.
It has long been clear that building more lanes makes traffic congestion worse, not better. But it does accomplish something: it increases the sale of cars and oil and maintains those products at the center of the economy. Unfortunately videos supporting the auto-oil industrial complex are as commonplace as petrol stations.
You'll not be surprised the concept of a 'Belgium waffle' does not exist _inside_ Belgium. It's either 'Brusselse wafel' or 'Luikse wafel' (Gaufre de Liège), they're not from Antwerp.
@@drfibonacci7570 not to forget the 3rd option of the home-made waffles for November, which is totally different than the other 2. Cue "who can eat the most" family competitions 😇
9 หลายเดือนก่อน
Luikse are defo the way to go in my heart 💖💖💖 Also, if a foreigner mentions a waffel, he means the Luikse :) @@drfibonacci7570
After a long time, Brazil is finally moving ahead with plans to build its first underwater tunnel near the Port of Santos, South America's largest port. It's impressive to see a much smaller country doing this.
Always admire how Europe preserves the best of the old in its cities, but still embraces ultra modern, all-inclusive transportation ideas. Imagine the reaction if transportation experts in North America had proposed bicycle lanes of this type.
I went to the open-construction-day yesterday, to the Left Shore part of these constructions. I had watched this video prior to it, but having walked over the construction site and through the tunnel, I thought it fun to rewatch this video and forward it to those who came with me.
@@hobogIn the case of Antwerp, a lot of the traffic are lorries going to the port. Amsterdam has its port infrastructure just outside the city, Antwerp has it right in the middle.
It would be great to see updates on this, and other project The B1M has seen at the start, in the future to see how they are getting on, what unforeseen challenges they've overcome and whether they are sticking to the timescales talked about.
I was born in Antwerp and lived there many years. I've also been away from Belgium for the last 12 years, which means I haven't been aware of local news for a long time. I absolutely love this video and seeing the progress of the project, and it makes me proud and hopeful! But that traffic issue has been there MY ENTIRE LIFE!!! And I was born in 1984!!!! Based on my experience with Belgian traffic projects in the last 40 years, there is no way it will be ready in 2030 and it will definitely be more expensive than currently planned. That's just how Belgium functions. I HOPE this is different, but I feel quite certain once it opens in 2042, there will be many new issues that weren't planned for and the project will be hated by the entire country.
The linkeroever part finished ahead of schedule, all while having a very low impact on the current traffic flow. If you know how congested the area is, at every hour of the day, it really is no small feat
i remember as a kid when my dad was watching the news there was so much talk about the lange wapper bridge and how many people were against it. Good to see they found an alternative
Yes, glad indeed. It was an insane idea. The bridge's design images looked nice and shiny, but it would:be turned a very nice city area into ugly desolation.
Looks like you filmed this project some time ago. The connection between the E17 and the Kennedy Tunnel has been finished almost half a year ago while your video still shows it in construction. The tunnel in Zeebrugge is also already a lot further along. Four sections are finished, two almost and the last two have started. The whole construction phase in Zeebrugge should be finished by the second half of this year. Once the tunnel elements have been moved out the location will be turned into a new harbour dock for Zeebrugge. The tunnel elements should then arrive in Antwerp early 2025 and will be put into their correct location by end of that year. The whole tunnel will be finished by end of 2027 but will not open until 2030 because the rest of the project has to be in place for that. Luckily the project seems to be ahead of schedule (the previous phases where ready between 1 and 4 months ahead of schedule.
How nice of "The B1M" to call our Antwerp port the centre of the world for diamond trade. I always thought we were most known for being the number 1 cocaine port in Europe. Anyhow, great video about this megaproject! Hope it will actually make a difference for the traffic.
I live there in Antwerp and use the ring road quite often. There is always traffic for as long I can remember. I can't wait for this project to be finished. It's just going to take a long time according to the expected schedule.
Thrilled to share that I'm contributing to the construction of the bypass viaduct, a pivotal element of the Oosterweel Project, and I'm honored to play a role in its creation!
As Antwerp city citizen I daily take the highways E17 / E34 (N49) / Kennedy Tunnel driving to my work in the Port of Gent. I'm always very excited to see this project evolving. It's astonishing how it's done, the coordination behind it etc. Just parts of bridges standing all alone in the middle of seemingly nowhere, you driving past it in a temporary bypass (which changes as well each few months). And this (for the part where I drive) WITHOUT any disturbance of the current traffic ! There's always traffic there, but not extra due to the works. Very proud & well done for all stake-holders ! 😁
Something got me thinking. Some people who watch this probably know the answer. They will float/sink the tunnel sections by pumping water in/out of ballast tanks, but when the tunnel is finished there will be nothing but air in them. Hopefully at least. So won't the finished tunnel want to float? Sure, it will be buried under the riverbed but that's just mud. Doesn't seem reliable to me, with vibrations and current, I would think the tubes, being less dense, would slowly creep up and eventually make it to the surface. It's not a problem, we had another tunnel just like this for over 50 years, but what keeps it down exactly?
I drove through Antwerp about 10 years ago Paris to Amsterdam, I was in wall to wall traffic on the E19 not moving, got off and took the long way round on the R2. Probably didn't save me time but at least I was moving. I am from Toronto so I know traffic, Antwerp is pretty bad lol
10 years ago, it wasn't as bad.. 😂 from Brussels to Antwerpen over E19 takes about 45 minutes. And then another 45 minutes till the city center. Last Sunday I tried to park in Antwerp. Eventually, I just drove back to Brussels because I wasn't able to find parking on a decent walking distance from the city center. 😅
Excellent video! There are also petrochemical (& other) plants all around the port area, which made it even more difficult to plan where to build it and whether it should be above or below the ground. Years and years of political debate, crossing over different governments etc. It's almost a miracle that it is now actually being built.
True! Although, we've also had one (every two decades there seems to be a new 'project of the century' around here). From 1998 till 2007 the Antwerp Central train station was completely overhauled from a single level terminus station to a triple (!) stacked through station, connecting to a new HSR tunnel towards the Netherlands under the city centre. They basically excavated a huge pit inside and under the monumental building, creating a now phenomenal masterpiece of old and new with a large atrium where you can see all the stacked train levels at once. It still stuns me till this day because of the large sense of space you get there. Sadly, this was constructed before channels like this could cover it, because it's a real marvel of architecture and engineering. Aside from that, the video really glosses over the fact that this Oosterweel project is now MUCH more than just some extra tunnels, and that it took a lot of pressure to get there. Basically, after the referendum the project still kept stalling because the plan was still to just construct new roads tunnels and nothing more, while action groups advocated against it and eventually put forward their own proposal to instead cap the entire existing ring to erase that barrier inside the city. Finally, a deal was struck to redesign the project which included over a billion euros of additional funding to cap the project as much as possible including large sections of the existing ring (and they really didn't show any of those beautiful plans with lots of new parks that reconnect entire parts of the city, sometimes by literally burying existing interchanges so they're almost unnoticeable). Also part of that deal is to eventually cap the entirety of the rest of the ring and to massively invest in bike and public transport infrastructure (e.g. a 250 million euros worth bike bridge over the river). Although that public transit part is still stalling unfortunately, but pressure is building to keep the government accountable to its commitments.
Making Brussels-Gent high speed (it's already a straight line), giving Antwerp a metro system, building the fast tram between Hasselt and Maastricht, bringing back trams to Leuven and Brusselse Rand or adding extra lines in Oostende and Gent, creating faster service to the Kempen, bringing back that passenger line to Terneuzen, maybe just not closing more tracks and stations around Aalst? There's so much cool stuff they could've done.
another very interesting video. I have a video idea for you: There is currently a railway project in Slovenia that is managed by 2TDK. A video about this would be great
Great Fred! I’ve always loved learning about this type of tunnel. We had 3 of them in the Virginia Beach area when I was growing up: Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel, Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel and Monitor-Merrimack Bridge Tunnel. The tunnel portions all used the method of floating sections out, then sinking and covering them. What’s really fascinating about this project is the effort to make it green by incorporating other places for people to leave their cars. Always enjoy your videos!
Making Brussels-Gent high speed (it's already a straight line), giving Antwerp a metro system, building the fast tram between Hasselt and Maastricht, bringing back trams to Leuven and Brusselse Rand or adding extra lines in Oostende and Gent, creating faster service to the Kempen, bringing back that passenger line to Terneuzen, maybe just not closing more tracks and stations around Aalst? There's just so many cool rail projects they could've done instead!
@@Hepsewind Clearly, the line between Gent and Denderleeuw still consists of double track. Unlike the short segment between Brussels and Leuven which does go 200km/h, this straight line is still capped at 160km/h, supposedly for capacity reasons.
@@lpt2606 I'm not against progress, just find it insulting that the Flemish government keeps building more roads under the banner of sustainability and alternative transportation options. It's like they really think we're stupid or something (and I guess we are). Imagine if they built a new rail alignment "with the aim of reducing train journeys", it just wouldn't make any sense.
The problem isn't only the car traffic, but the massive amounts of cargo traffic from one of the biggest ports in Europe. On top of that it is 1 of 2 connections east - west (the other being Brussels, which is nearly as bad) and the main connection north - south within Belgium and between the Netherlands and France. In 2022 this single stretch of highway got on average 26.000 trucks in each direction per day. And it is only getting worse.
Great video! I've just discovered the construction site on google maps a few days ago and did some research on the project. But now I know even more! Thanks :)
When I heard Antwerp, that dialogue from Snatch came into my mind.... Seconds later, that's exactly what I see... Hahaha man I screamed like crazy. Made me so happy 😃😃
I actually love how the world doesn't really look at Belgium and what we're doing. If people actually knew how good we had it, there wouldn't be any room left! Besides, the traffic is only that bad in and around; Brussel (Ternat), Antwerpen, Gent, Charleroi, Luik, Brugge, Leuven, Mechelen, Kortrijk, Aalst, Hasselt, Genk, Namen, Sint-Niklaas, Turnhout, Roeselare, Oostende, ... 😅
Halle is about to join that club with another "megaproject". The bypass connecting the E429 motorway and the E19/R0 motorway which is now a double lane surface level road with traffic lights will get partially tunnelled too, the estimated duration of the works is 10 years. There is no real alternative road which can take the diverted traffic.
I wish he said more about how they will sink when they've been sealed on both ends to float. Maybe they pump water into the service duct to act as ballast? Wish he touched on that.
We have the same issue in Melbourne Australia (the M80 ring road, part of Victorias Big Build) but it is finally currently being completed which is very exciting for a Melbourian ❤
Great video once again! And on a city that I visit weekly. But I have to point out that you mistakenly indicated the city of Turnhout in stead of Antwerp in 1:42
I only use the train to go to Antwerp, because the traffic has traumatized me, both in and outside the ring. So thank you for this video. Hopefully it will help. on a sidenote, maybe you could make a video of the 11-19 km tram track they are building in Liège, Belgium. not as massive as this one, but still an impressive project
It will have cost 2 or 3 times as much by the time it's finished. And in the 20 years it took to prepare for this project, 100's of millions were wasted on making plans, creating studies on environment and impact, getting permits, then the permits got revoked because of protests from activists, which resulted in the project having to start from scratch again, and this happened multiple times. Thru the years here have been plans for a Langewapper bridge, a Paperclip solution, the Bretellen solution, a plan to build a roof above the ringway, and finally the oosterweel tunnel.
You should make a video about Ireland's children's hospital, starting budget of €800 million but now at€2.2 billion, 8th year of construction, built in the capital's city centre and dubbed "Most Expensive Hospital in the World"
Judging from the complexity of this project, if someone said €70 billion here in Ireland for the total final cost rather than 7, I'd say, ye not totally unrealistic of what it might end up at.
Skip the waitlist and invest in blue-chip art for the very first time by signing up for Masterworks 👉 www.masterworks.art/theb1m
@@OneEyedMonkey9000yes, it always works like that
Why is the channel called b1m? What does it mean?
There is still no waiting list...stop with this fear of missing out shit please...love your vids
@@lostcabrio B1M is a reference to a construction software called BIM (building information modellling)
This sponsor sucks, please ditch them and their predatory tactics
we all love a tunnel.
This tunnel is sadly a better-kept secret than your tunnel project.
Yes we do indeed!
REAL!!!!!!
Hey Colin how about building an underground rollercoaster from your local pub back to your house.....
get your own domestic river and sink a tunnel through it
I was born, raised, lived and worked in Antwerp for my entire life, and I’ve have never known something else than “traffic is awful” in my city, to the point I can’t even imagine it would change someday. I’m really curious wether this whole project will work out 🙂
When city decides to widen the roads, more people start using cars and here we go again. Never ending loop. There is no need for people to use personal cars in cities as the public transit systems can solve most of the transportation issues using much less space and much less money to build and maintain.
I highly doubt it will work. More lanes induce more drivers. It creates more demand and taps into latent demand. I honestly think it's a shame that this channel focusses so much on road projects which are not worth the money that is spent on them. It doesn't solve any issue, it only temporarily delays it. We already know this, the solution to traffic is not to make driving easier (which is never achieved anyways).
Spoiler: It won't work. Just google Induced demand...
It should, I mean other cities around the world like in the USA have done a elevated highway/roadway delete and replaced the thru connections with tunnels or new high capacity roads at ground level.
@ElonMusk-eh5ni You mean a brick I can't use in an apartment because Canada sucks with plug in electrics?
Find someone who looks at you the way Fred looks at prefabricated immersed tube tunnel sections.
Best comment of the week
😂
The Joy I feel when seeing a video about anything in Belgium. And for sure on an extraordinary TH-cam Channel such as this. 🇧🇪🇧🇪
I worked at the company that made the concrete molds for this tunnel (Hendriks). I didnt do that much for this project (it wasnt mine project) but I did design the stairs you see at 8:32. Quite nice to find my own work at one of my faforite youtube channels.
That's so cool
Xd hi there
Looks like a fine stair!
What CAD/BIM software do you use for that?
Awesome stair, really special 💖💖😏😏
I am from Antwerp and this is the daily reality for me . Great job covering this.
isn’t it faster to use public transport?
@@carlosandleon Depends. There are many place where the bus drives on its own road, away from cars, but on the places where there are crazy amounts of traffic, there is no seperate bus road. The bus uses the same road as the cars, so you will eventually end up in traffic. You can take the tram/metro and skip all of the traffic, yes, but it depends if you need to be in the city of Antwerp or elsewhere.
@@carlosandleonpublic transport isn't very great here, except trains. Maybe a tram can be faster but a bus won't. It's also quite expensive at €2,5 one way. Besides this a lot of people here get a car from their work with fuel included. More and more people are chosing to bike though.
En de pfas vervuiling? Ze noemen dit niet eens hier
Was born and raised in Antwerp. I work in Antwerp... and Now I am a small part of the Oosterweel through my job. Very cool to see this video. You have no idea of all the 'little' side infrastructure jobs linked to this massive project that are going on to this day.
this! I live about 5KM away from the ringroad and they repaved and straightend a bicycle tunnel as part of this project. The whole wide region is impacted by these works and all the little sideprojects that come with it.
Happy Valentine’s Day! We hope you all LOVE this video ❤😂
Happy valentine's day
@@momytikIndonesia? Hello from your neighbour Malaysia!
@@brandonchan4537not OP but Indonesian too, hello neighbor 👋
Audio issues with it.
I know €7B sounds like a lot, but here in the Northwest US, we're looking at that figure just for a single bridge. It's actually impressive the amount of public works Antwerp is getting for the price. At least from a US perspective.
UK has spent £300m on a tunnel that hasn't even been started yet. And hasn't actually been finalised in design then approved..
One word: Belt Parkway😅
The actual costs will be much higher.
Now tell them about how much money is spent over decades to "study" the problem of building a bridge. It's insane, and that money is almost never counted in reports that go to the public.
These numbers are faked by politicians. The real cost will be 10 times higher
"Nicest footage we could find" 😂
i couldnt hold! i had to laugh!
I bursted out laughing, did so not expect that😂😂
Nicest weather we could find 🙂
Always look on the bright side of life.....
well, the car wasn't stuck in traffic, so at least that's nice
In addition to your excellent video: there’s not one huge park and ride, but instead a whole chain of those identical beasts built around the city, accompanied by large public transport hubs.
If only anyone used it....
It'll only be used as the Flanders government stops doing everything to ruin De Lijn...
@@liamtahaney713 enkel als er iets te doen is int sportpaleis
And not to forget that it's only 1 euro for a whole day!
That are empty and no one use complete waste of money.
For the New Yorkers out there, 7 billion Euros equates to about a quarter mile of new subway track being built by the MTA, or three MTA engineering impact studies
good proof of why agencies like the MTA should have their own internal engineering and construction division. I am pretty sure when these contracts get drawn up the MTA is getting ripped off.
😮😮‼️
Damn...
Almost any major construction project here in the States requires decades and decades and decades of "study" and even then, seldom does anything get built. Somebody is making money, and the taxpayer is receiving zero benefit.
Surely €7 billion doesn't cover outreach, permitting, legal, and environmental clearance?
As an Antwerp'enaar I love how well you captured our beautiful city, well done good sir!
Maybe interesting to mention, the big hole they dug to build the tunnel elements will later serve as a shipping dock. That's why you could see those rubbers hanging from that 1 concrete side
Thanks for the info. I was wondering.
Honestly Belgium never cease to impress me, they are some of the finest engineers there is, impressive stuff
The seamless transition into that Masterworks ad deserves an Oscar😂
team fortress 2 engineer spotted at 5:32
real
It's fucking wild
Excellent spot
"Whoooowee, would ya look at that!"
That engineer is a spaaah!!!
I'm incredibly thankful and super stoked that you've made a documentary about this!!! I didn't even know about this and I live in Flanders, near Zeebrugge. Absolutely insane and amazing construction! ❤
It's a fantastic project indeed, thank you for covering this! I'm glad it's being built, hower I have three concerns.
1. It's very car centric. In the long term, more lanes will make it worse for traffic. And the port of Antwerp will increase its trucks untill traffic is deadlock again, I'm afaird.
2. Projects like these work IF there are substantial investments in public transport. Our governments have failed to delivered on this one.
3. P+Rs are great IF people use public transport. Most of them remain empty. The city keeps building underground parkings which keeps incentivizing car journeys.
Absolutely right.
Excellent video, but misplacing Antwerp on the map 1:34 is a little bit awkward 😅it's a few km to the left, you know, that strategic point where there's water
They placed the dot on the spot Apple maps has the label for the Antwerp province... that's why...
I’m an engineering student at Ghent University (Belgium) and have been able to visit both construction sites (Zeebrugge and Antwerp) in depth... truly spectacular 😮
We live in the Netherlands but have family in France. Since one of my aunt's recently been in poor health my mom makes the four hour drive down to her in France once a month and she has to drive via/around Antwerp and EVERY TIME she finds herself stuck in traffic, no matter what time of the day or night she travels 😅
This tonel for your mom 😂
@@ivan-gy1jg9xv3e Let's hope she fits 😆😆😆 Sorry, had to make the joke 💖💖
Taxes, Traffic on the antwerpse ring, death!!!
We blame all those Dutch drivers passing trough for the congested roads.
The opening shot is the Dutch town of Vlissingen. It's located on the same river as Antwerp, but it's over 60km from the Antwerp city centre
Yeah, and why is the dot for Antwerp on the map placed 15km east of the city? I think because on Apple Maps the label for the province 'Antwerp' is there.
@hondaspeed6785 seems likely. Kind of a stupid oversight since they actually were in the city to film this video, so they know the location.
Now I have to look of I can spot Michiel 😉
Many times TH-camrs put things like this in videos so people "who are in the know" will comment and thus generate more views for the video.
Damn i also commented, helping the algorithm.
Surprised they're building so much new road infrastructure and tunneling with no added rail, I would've imagined cargo trains might be a big focus.
This. Antwerpen doesn't need more roads. It needs less cars. And the only way is by giving more alternatives
The railway system around the port is already quite extensive and not at all near capacity so no need
@@leonpaelinckit's not the cars in europe that are the problem, it's millions of trucks. Bring back rail freight
This is not entirely true. The previous federal minister already announced back in 2021(?) that the freight cargo will be doubled. For that the minister invested a couple of milion to build more rails. This is the issue of Belgium: the rails are not part of what the Flemish government can invest in. That's the priority for infrabel, who is responsible for the roads. Nmbs (and another company, which the NMBS is shareholder of) is responsible for the trains and taking the cargo. But this is all the responsibility of the federal government.
It has long been clear that building more lanes makes traffic congestion worse, not better. But it does accomplish something: it increases the sale of cars and oil and maintains those products at the center of the economy. Unfortunately videos supporting the auto-oil industrial complex are as commonplace as petrol stations.
"Belgium Waffle " very nice!
You’re welcome 🧇
Blue waffle
You'll not be surprised the concept of a 'Belgium waffle' does not exist _inside_ Belgium. It's either 'Brusselse wafel' or 'Luikse wafel' (Gaufre de Liège), they're not from Antwerp.
@@drfibonacci7570 not to forget the 3rd option of the home-made waffles for November, which is totally different than the other 2.
Cue "who can eat the most" family competitions 😇
Luikse are defo the way to go in my heart 💖💖💖 Also, if a foreigner mentions a waffel, he means the Luikse :) @@drfibonacci7570
After a long time, Brazil is finally moving ahead with plans to build its first underwater tunnel near the Port of Santos, South America's largest port. It's impressive to see a much smaller country doing this.
Always admire how Europe preserves the best of the old in its cities, but still embraces ultra modern, all-inclusive transportation ideas. Imagine the reaction if transportation experts in North America had proposed bicycle lanes of this type.
I went to the open-construction-day yesterday, to the Left Shore part of these constructions. I had watched this video prior to it, but having walked over the construction site and through the tunnel, I thought it fun to rewatch this video and forward it to those who came with me.
As a dutch person traveling south regularly, i commend this megaproject. Damn antwerp sucks with traffic
Didn't Amsterdam overcome car expansions like this?
@@hobogIn the case of Antwerp, a lot of the traffic are lorries going to the port. Amsterdam has its port infrastructure just outside the city, Antwerp has it right in the middle.
If the Dutch stayed home, the traffic jams around Antwerp would be reduced by one third 😂
Yes because the ring is way too close to the city. Now they're making that ring even more important!
@@race_republik In summer, 50%. All those bloody caravans ...
love visiting Antwerp they have such an amazing train station too. excited to see this project completed and those new roads and parks being opened
Absolutely super project, Fred in his element with massive engineering. Brilliant B1M
Great to see Fred properly geeking out to something he genuinely loves.
It would be great to see updates on this, and other project The B1M has seen at the start, in the future to see how they are getting on, what unforeseen challenges they've overcome and whether they are sticking to the timescales talked about.
Before watching I was 100% sure this was going to be about the tunnel between Germany and Denmark
I was born in Antwerp and lived there many years.
I've also been away from Belgium for the last 12 years, which means I haven't been aware of local news for a long time.
I absolutely love this video and seeing the progress of the project, and it makes me proud and hopeful!
But that traffic issue has been there MY ENTIRE LIFE!!! And I was born in 1984!!!!
Based on my experience with Belgian traffic projects in the last 40 years, there is no way it will be ready in 2030 and it will definitely be more expensive than currently planned.
That's just how Belgium functions.
I HOPE this is different, but I feel quite certain once it opens in 2042, there will be many new issues that weren't planned for and the project will be hated by the entire country.
The linkeroever part finished ahead of schedule, all while having a very low impact on the current traffic flow. If you know how congested the area is, at every hour of the day, it really is no small feat
I’m from Belgium but didn’t know anything about the engineering. Crazy how big the project actually is. Thanks a lot for this great video!
The marker for Antwerp on the map at 1:40 is incorrect. Antwerp is 15km ish to the west.
Indeed the marker is incorrect.
It indicates the Antwerp parking lot, which is the rest of the country.
i remember as a kid when my dad was watching the news there was so much talk about the lange wapper bridge and how many people were against it. Good to see they found an alternative
Yes, glad indeed. It was an insane idea. The bridge's design images looked nice and shiny, but it would:be turned a very nice city area into ugly desolation.
Looks like you filmed this project some time ago. The connection between the E17 and the Kennedy Tunnel has been finished almost half a year ago while your video still shows it in construction. The tunnel in Zeebrugge is also already a lot further along. Four sections are finished, two almost and the last two have started. The whole construction phase in Zeebrugge should be finished by the second half of this year. Once the tunnel elements have been moved out the location will be turned into a new harbour dock for Zeebrugge.
The tunnel elements should then arrive in Antwerp early 2025 and will be put into their correct location by end of that year. The whole tunnel will be finished by end of 2027 but will not open until 2030 because the rest of the project has to be in place for that. Luckily the project seems to be ahead of schedule (the previous phases where ready between 1 and 4 months ahead of schedule.
How nice of "The B1M" to call our Antwerp port the centre of the world for diamond trade. I always thought we were most known for being the number 1 cocaine port in Europe.
Anyhow, great video about this megaproject! Hope it will actually make a difference for the traffic.
This reminds me of the Big Dig in Boston, Massachusetts
They should call it the Big Dunk
Boston also had their own Big Dig? Hi from Seattle. Our's had plenty of issues to go along with it too, lol.
I just love watching the B1M, I just sit back and marvel at various engineering masterpiece.
Nice to see you did a video of this great construction project in Belgium
The tunnel sections remind me of the ones being built for our new german-denmark tunnel
I live there in Antwerp and use the ring road quite often.
There is always traffic for as long I can remember.
I can't wait for this project to be finished. It's just going to take a long time according to the expected schedule.
I wonder how much time will it take to get all stuck again. I imagine no more than 5 years after it’s opened, but only time will tell.
Thrilled to share that I'm contributing to the construction of the bypass viaduct, a pivotal element of the Oosterweel Project, and I'm honored to play a role in its creation!
Unbelievable engineering job 🤯🤯🤯🤯
As Antwerp city citizen I daily take the highways E17 / E34 (N49) / Kennedy Tunnel driving to my work in the Port of Gent.
I'm always very excited to see this project evolving. It's astonishing how it's done, the coordination behind it etc.
Just parts of bridges standing all alone in the middle of seemingly nowhere, you driving past it in a temporary bypass (which changes as well each few months).
And this (for the part where I drive) WITHOUT any disturbance of the current traffic !
There's always traffic there, but not extra due to the works.
Very proud & well done for all stake-holders ! 😁
Finally! I was hoping for so long that you would cover this project. Glad to see my city represented on this channel 😌
Something got me thinking. Some people who watch this probably know the answer. They will float/sink the tunnel sections by pumping water in/out of ballast tanks, but when the tunnel is finished there will be nothing but air in them. Hopefully at least. So won't the finished tunnel want to float? Sure, it will be buried under the riverbed but that's just mud. Doesn't seem reliable to me, with vibrations and current, I would think the tubes, being less dense, would slowly creep up and eventually make it to the surface. It's not a problem, we had another tunnel just like this for over 50 years, but what keeps it down exactly?
I drove through Antwerp about 10 years ago Paris to Amsterdam, I was in wall to wall traffic on the E19 not moving, got off and took the long way round on the R2. Probably didn't save me time but at least I was moving. I am from Toronto so I know traffic, Antwerp is pretty bad lol
10 years ago, it wasn't as bad.. 😂 from Brussels to Antwerpen over E19 takes about 45 minutes. And then another 45 minutes till the city center. Last Sunday I tried to park in Antwerp. Eventually, I just drove back to Brussels because I wasn't able to find parking on a decent walking distance from the city center. 😅
I was born, raised and still live in Antwerp and thanks to this B1M video I finally understand what's happening in my city. Cheers B1M!
Thank you, Fred! What an amazing project,
Fun fact while the tunnels are being placed the canal is being upgraded 2 so multiple mayor works at the same location
Just a quick note to say I love the production values of your content - and I love the humor. Keep it up!
Excellent video! There are also petrochemical (& other) plants all around the port area, which made it even more difficult to plan where to build it and whether it should be above or below the ground. Years and years of political debate, crossing over different governments etc. It's almost a miracle that it is now actually being built.
I'll say it again, the production value of this channel is superb. The team behind this channel is creating outputs better than the BBC or Channel 4.
LOL what?
Do you actually watch anything on those channels? Documentaries are the BBCs forte.
@@flyingpanhandle The shady sponsorship inclusions are this channels forte.
Great to see my home town on this channel again!
I just wish that Belgium's 'Project of the Century' was a rail or transit project...not a highway expansion 😞.
Yeah...
Strange they forgot about train tunnel 😢
True! Although, we've also had one (every two decades there seems to be a new 'project of the century' around here). From 1998 till 2007 the Antwerp Central train station was completely overhauled from a single level terminus station to a triple (!) stacked through station, connecting to a new HSR tunnel towards the Netherlands under the city centre. They basically excavated a huge pit inside and under the monumental building, creating a now phenomenal masterpiece of old and new with a large atrium where you can see all the stacked train levels at once. It still stuns me till this day because of the large sense of space you get there. Sadly, this was constructed before channels like this could cover it, because it's a real marvel of architecture and engineering.
Aside from that, the video really glosses over the fact that this Oosterweel project is now MUCH more than just some extra tunnels, and that it took a lot of pressure to get there. Basically, after the referendum the project still kept stalling because the plan was still to just construct new roads tunnels and nothing more, while action groups advocated against it and eventually put forward their own proposal to instead cap the entire existing ring to erase that barrier inside the city. Finally, a deal was struck to redesign the project which included over a billion euros of additional funding to cap the project as much as possible including large sections of the existing ring (and they really didn't show any of those beautiful plans with lots of new parks that reconnect entire parts of the city, sometimes by literally burying existing interchanges so they're almost unnoticeable). Also part of that deal is to eventually cap the entirety of the rest of the ring and to massively invest in bike and public transport infrastructure (e.g. a 250 million euros worth bike bridge over the river). Although that public transit part is still stalling unfortunately, but pressure is building to keep the government accountable to its commitments.
Well in all fairness, Antwerp already has a 3 layer rail way station so en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antwerpen-Centraal_railway_station
Making Brussels-Gent high speed (it's already a straight line), giving Antwerp a metro system, building the fast tram between Hasselt and Maastricht, bringing back trams to Leuven and Brusselse Rand or adding extra lines in Oostende and Gent, creating faster service to the Kempen, bringing back that passenger line to Terneuzen, maybe just not closing more tracks and stations around Aalst? There's so much cool stuff they could've done.
The effort and pace is glorious
another very interesting video. I have a video idea for you: There is currently a railway project in Slovenia that is managed by 2TDK. A video about this would be great
I have always loved Belgium 🇧🇪 I hope I’ll have the pleasure to finally visit there one day
As a retired construction plant operator I love watching your vids Fred. Who needs the BBC when we have quality like yours.
Great Fred! I’ve always loved learning about this type of tunnel. We had 3 of them in the Virginia Beach area when I was growing up: Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel, Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel and Monitor-Merrimack Bridge Tunnel. The tunnel portions all used the method of floating sections out, then sinking and covering them. What’s really fascinating about this project is the effort to make it green by incorporating other places for people to leave their cars. Always enjoy your videos!
Making Brussels-Gent high speed (it's already a straight line), giving Antwerp a metro system, building the fast tram between Hasselt and Maastricht, bringing back trams to Leuven and Brusselse Rand or adding extra lines in Oostende and Gent, creating faster service to the Kempen, bringing back that passenger line to Terneuzen, maybe just not closing more tracks and stations around Aalst? There's just so many cool rail projects they could've done instead!
Por qué no los dos?
We only just finished adding 2 extra tracks between Brusels and Gent. Also the line has already been 200km/h for close to 100 years.
yup, mee eens. maya de tunnel was wel is nodig.
@@Hepsewind Clearly, the line between Gent and Denderleeuw still consists of double track. Unlike the short segment between Brussels and Leuven which does go 200km/h, this straight line is still capped at 160km/h, supposedly for capacity reasons.
@@lpt2606 I'm not against progress, just find it insulting that the Flemish government keeps building more roads under the banner of sustainability and alternative transportation options. It's like they really think we're stupid or something (and I guess we are).
Imagine if they built a new rail alignment "with the aim of reducing train journeys", it just wouldn't make any sense.
11:30 yeah, I don't see the traffic numbers going down when the project is purposefully making travel with car *easier* ..
Forget the tunnel, how did you float the 2030 sign at about 11:25 ? That's a great piece of engineering.
What an incredible project. Astounding engineering and logistics, yet somehow seemingly simple. Pretty amazing the things humanity is capable of.
If I wanted to reduce people making journeys by car by 20%, my first thought wouldn't be to build a massive new major highway system.
they will just outprice poor people out of cars like they do in other countries :(
You have to if you want to cut journeys in and around the city because there's no direct route available.
The problem isn't only the car traffic, but the massive amounts of cargo traffic from one of the biggest ports in Europe. On top of that it is 1 of 2 connections east - west (the other being Brussels, which is nearly as bad) and the main connection north - south within Belgium and between the Netherlands and France.
In 2022 this single stretch of highway got on average 26.000 trucks in each direction per day. And it is only getting worse.
@@faustinpippin9208 Those not willing to pay the toll fee, will still be able to use the old route. Which will also benefit from reduced traffic.
A certain amount of car traffic is still necessary, no matter what.
this is really impressive, always wanted to visit antwerp and this just gives me more reasons to go there
Good on them for adding a cycle lane, brilliant.
Would be a hell of a climb though to get out
Very similar construction process to the Danish-German tunnel you featured a while back, exciting stuff!
Happy to see your coverage of this !
Great video! I've just discovered the construction site on google maps a few days ago and did some research on the project. But now I know even more! Thanks :)
5:30 The really put the TF2 engineer in the service tunnel
I absolutely love that they included a bike path in the tunnels! That's pretty forward thinking and cool
Mindblowing and amazing ! Love this channel for many years. Once again, a round of applause 👏👏👏😎
Been living near Antwerp since forever so the project will definitely impact my life, less congestion woohoo 🎉🎉
Beautiful. But I don't agree Masterworks is a good bet for your audience.
Very first drone shot ain’t Antwerp. That’s Vlissingen. The Dutch town where many people from Antwerp come to relax. Love living there.
7 billion? I would have done it for 6.
When I heard Antwerp, that dialogue from Snatch came into my mind.... Seconds later, that's exactly what I see... Hahaha man I screamed like crazy. Made me so happy 😃😃
I actually love how the world doesn't really look at Belgium and what we're doing. If people actually knew how good we had it, there wouldn't be any room left! Besides, the traffic is only that bad in and around; Brussel (Ternat), Antwerpen, Gent, Charleroi, Luik, Brugge, Leuven, Mechelen, Kortrijk, Aalst, Hasselt, Genk, Namen, Sint-Niklaas, Turnhout, Roeselare, Oostende, ... 😅
Halle is about to join that club with another "megaproject". The bypass connecting the E429 motorway and the E19/R0 motorway which is now a double lane surface level road with traffic lights will get partially tunnelled too, the estimated duration of the works is 10 years. There is no real alternative road which can take the diverted traffic.
I wish he said more about how they will sink when they've been sealed on both ends to float. Maybe they pump water into the service duct to act as ballast? Wish he touched on that.
Congrats on getting Belgium Waffle into the script! :D
But no mention of Beer or The Smurfs! "Light at the end of the tunnel" was a classic one, Fred.
We have the same issue in Melbourne Australia (the M80 ring road, part of Victorias Big Build) but it is finally currently being completed which is very exciting for a Melbourian ❤
Great video once again! And on a city that I visit weekly. But I have to point out that you mistakenly indicated the city of Turnhout in stead of Antwerp in 1:42
Massive project is an understatement. My god the amount of planning that needs to go into this.
Very enjoyable as always 👍. Heading to Antwerp this summer so will be looking out for this.
I can't believe how much is going into this project. Wild stuff. Another great video B1M team!
Way cool! Hopefully TheB1M will be around to show the final project. :) Thank you.
I only use the train to go to Antwerp, because the traffic has traumatized me, both in and outside the ring. So thank you for this video. Hopefully it will help. on a sidenote, maybe you could make a video of the 11-19 km tram track they are building in Liège, Belgium. not as massive as this one, but still an impressive project
Awesome video. Have you thought about doing a video on the big austrian railway tunnel projects that are currently under construction?
Great video, thanks.
And… good on you Belgium for undertaking this!🇧🇪
They should not stop on this project, next must be train link from Estonia to Finland !
In Montreal Canada, we are currently repairing a tunnel built with the same technology in the 1960’s. It is a big job…
Cant imagine it costing only 7bn
It will be much more in the end...
Belgium has always been very cost effective when it comes to mega projects, often only costing a tenth of similar projects in NL or Germany.
It was originally a €3.6B project but because of inflation, interest rates and solving PFAS issue, it's now sitting at €7B.
It will have cost 2 or 3 times as much by the time it's finished. And in the 20 years it took to prepare for this project, 100's of millions were wasted on making plans, creating studies on environment and impact, getting permits, then the permits got revoked because of protests from activists, which resulted in the project having to start from scratch again, and this happened multiple times. Thru the years here have been plans for a Langewapper bridge, a Paperclip solution, the Bretellen solution, a plan to build a roof above the ringway, and finally the oosterweel tunnel.
Love your videos on BIG infrastructure builds.
You should make a video about Ireland's children's hospital, starting budget of €800 million but now at€2.2 billion, 8th year of construction, built in the capital's city centre and dubbed "Most Expensive Hospital in the World"
🙀
Be interesting to see if it's finishes before the globalists get their third world war up and running.
How many beds?
@@jobue394 533 beds total
Judging from the complexity of this project, if someone said €70 billion here in Ireland for the total final cost rather than 7, I'd say, ye not totally unrealistic of what it might end up at.