Death Threats Won’t Deflect Elke Van Den Brandt From Freeing Brussels Of Traffic Congestion

Sustainability Death Threats Won’t Deflect Elke Van Den Brandt From Freeing Brussels Of Traffic Congestion Carlton Reid Senior Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. I have been writing about transport for 30 years. Following New! Follow this author to stay notified about their latest stories.

Got it! Oct 14, 2022, 10:06am EDT | New! Click on the conversation bubble to join the conversation Got it! Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Elke Van den Brandt, Minister of Mobility, Public Works and Road Safety for Brussels, in her . . .

[+] 13th-floor office overlooking the Belgian capital. Carlton Reid “Brussels has been one of Europe’s most congested cities for decades,” the city-region’s mobility minister told me from her 13th-floor office overlooking Belgium’s capital. “Traffic jams here are not new,” added the Green politician.

“If you do nothing, [the jams] will stay. ” Elke Van den Brandt has been the Minister of Mobility, Public Works and Road Safety for Brussels since 2019. The Greens did well in that year’s regional, national and European elections, and the bloc forms the second-largest party in the Brussels provincial government, just behind the traditionally dominant Socialists.

The city government’s Good Move mobility plan was introduced in 2016 by Pascal Smet , the state secretary for urbanism. The project aims to reduce motor traffic by nearly 25% and improve streets for people on foot and bicycles. The current plan—good through 2030—is now spearheaded by Van den Brandt.

“The goal of this mobility plan is not just about transport,” she said in the hour-long meeting. MORE FOR YOU They Inherited Billions Upon Billions: Meet America’s Richest Heirs University of Florida Taps Republican Senator Ben Sasse For President The Next ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ Should Be A ‘GTA 6’ Competitor “It is about quality of life and quality of public space. If you want to do something about the quality of life in Brussels and make the city more attractive for visitors and people living here and working here, then we need to change our mobility habits.

” She complained that 70% of public space is currently taken up by motor traffic, including roads and parking, which amounts to what she called an “occupation. ” “We need to change that,” she said. Cars parked on the Grand Place of Brussels in 1955.

(Photo by Dominique BERRETTY/Gamma-Rapho via . . .

[+] Getty Images) Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images “Public space needs to feel like home; you need to feel welcome and safe. So we divided Brussels into 30 areas and, in each area, we have a circulation plan with the goal that local traffic can still go in and out. Sometimes you will need to make a little detour, but we must discourage those motorists passing through who want to gain one or two minutes or avoid some traffic lights.

Motor traffic must be channeled on to the main roads which are designed for it; in residential neighborhoods, we only want low traffic and slow traffic. ” People friendly Until the early 1990s, motorists could drive through the medieval streets of the city center and park their cars on the historic Grand Place, the UNESCO World Heritage site that the 19th Century French writer Victor Hugo called the “most beautiful square in the world. ” With cars favored over people since the 1950s, it had become far from a beautiful location.

Today the square is again thronged with people, with cars no longer allowed anywhere near. A giant flower carpet is pictured within the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of Turkish . .

. [+] workers’ migration to Belgium. Photo taken in Grand Place next to the medieval town hall on August 14, 2014 in Brussels, Belgium (Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images) Getty Images “Nobody wants to turn back the clock and allow cars back into the center,” said the mobility minister, who wants to increase the space for cyclists and pedestrians and reduce the space for motorists, and not just in the historic core.

Brussels is the administrative center of the European Union, with many EU institutions housed in buildings flanking the Rue de la Loi highway that slices through the European Quarter. This one-way highway is a major arterial into the city and has long suffered from chronic congestion. “It’s important to stress that congestion is caused by cars, not bicycles,” said Van den Brandt.

A lane has been taken from motorists on the Rue de la Loi highway that slices through the European . . .

[+] Quarter of Brussels and given to cyclists. Carlton Reid “The Rue de la Loi, an emblematic road in front of the European institutions, previously had four car lanes, and we took one and gave it to cyclists. We tell motorists that cyclists are your allies because everybody on that cycle is not with you in the traffic jam; they’re not taking your parking spot; giving cyclists space makes sense.

” It might make sense to her and those who voted for her, but Van den Brandt has faced fierce criticism for implementing many parts of the Good Move plan. “We get death threats, and there are aggressive Facebook groups against what we’re doing. This is because you’re changing something that touches everybody on a daily basis; everybody’s concerned about mobility.

” She stresses she is not anti-car. “Some people really need their car. If you have to get to work at three o’clock in the morning, Brussels public transport is not for you.

But for many journeys, cars are not the best solution. You’re faster by bike and by Metro. Driving is not good for you; walking and cycling are good for your mental and physical health.

” Company cars One of the reasons many people in Belgium remain wedded to car use is that–thanks to federal fiscal policy–they get cars as part of their employment contracts. Fuel is also often free. Company car use is endemic throughout Belgium, including in the capital.

“If somebody gets free petrol, they have a free parking spot in front of their house and another one at their place of work, how can you convince them to say, ‘oh, no, I’m going to take the train’? asked the minister. “Giving a car is cheaper [for some employers] than paying people in Euros. It’s a political issue.

You need to make sure that if people are being paid they’re paid in Euros, not part paid with a car. The federal government is encouraging car use, encouraging traffic jams; we need to change that system. ” MORE FROM FORBES King Car Deposed On Rue Royale As Works Start To Remove Motor Traffic From Central Brussels By Carlton Reid When Van den Brandt voices opposition to the national fiscal policy favoring company car provision for middle management, she is accused of wanting to reduce peoples’ wages.

She is charged with similar in working-class districts where car ownership is much lower but where the opposition to “anti-car” measures has been violent. Council meetings in Cureghem, part of the commune of Anderlecht, less than a mile from the center of Brussels, were, in the summer, marred by violent outbursts from protestors angry at the introduction of low traffic zones. “It was not a happy time,” understated Van den Brandt, still shocked that the commune’s deputy mayor had to have a police escort to guarantee her safety.

“People were defacing [the Good Move] road signs. Decorative planters used to close some of the roads were also demolished. We had to replace them with concrete blocks which are not so sexy.

From day one, the plan was sabotaged. The police didn’t defend the measurements. ” Cyclists and e-scooter users cross Rue de La Loi at Kunst-Wet in Brussels.

Carlton Reid Many of the concrete blocks were dragged away in the middle of the night and some were placed across cycleways instead. Brussels MP Juan Benjumea-Moreno slammed into one of the concrete blocks on his bicycle in the dark, claiming it had been dragged across the cycleway to cause injuries. (His fall led to bruises, scrapes and a chipped tooth, he tweeted, calling the vandalism “hyper dangerous.

”) The protests worked; those roads that had been closed to motorists but remained open for pedestrians and cyclists were reopened to motorists. The area’s circulation plan, inaugurated in August, was suspended by Anderlecht’s leaders in September. “When you tolerate violence, it is something that will be reproduced elsewhere,” stated Van den Brandt.

Cureghem is a multicultural deprived neighborhood with many social problems. “It’s a place where Good Move is most needed,” said the minister. “The houses are small; many people live in each house, there are few gardens and not much public space.

The area needs more green space, and more playgrounds, but it’s dominated by motor traffic. We have to better explain why circulation plans make lives better. ” Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn .

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