The Kennedytunnel is an important road, rail, and bicycle tunnel to the south of

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, under the

Scheldt The Scheldt (french: Escaut ; nl, Schelde ) is a river that flows through northern France, western Belgium, and the southwestern part of Netherlands, the Netherlands, with its mouth at the North Sea. Its name is derived from an adjective corr ...

river. The road tunnel forms a part of Highway R1 – the not yet completed inner ring motorway surrounding the city. Opened to road traffic on 31 May 1969, and to rail traffic on 1 February 1970, the tunnel was named after

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

, the thirty-fifth

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

. Plans for the construction of the tunnel date back to the Fifties. Between 1945 and 1960, the volume of traffic passing through the Waaslandtunnel had quintupled – in excess of 38,000 vehicles were travelling through the tunnel per day. Because of the resulting daily congestion on both sides of the river crossing, the construction of a second crossing was deemed necessary. In 1958 the layout for the E3 was established, and an invitation to tender was issued for a bridge or a tunnel. In 1963, Minister Georges Bohy, following the advice of his technical experts, decided in favour of a tunnel. In effect, the Kennedytunnel consists of four parallel tunnels. Two road tunnels, 14.25 m wide, each sufficient for three lanes of traffic, run on either side of a 4 m wide bicycle tunnel. Fifteen metres below sea level there is a rail tunnel 10.5 m wide. The road tunnel was the scene of a particularly severe fatal traffic accident in October 2006, after which traffic speed was restricted to 70 km/h during working hours, rather than the higher 100 km/h limit applicable on the rest of the Antwerp Inner Ring Road. Additional metal crash barriers had been installed in the tunnel the previous year.

References

{{Coord, 51.206, N, 4.371, E, display=title, source:nlwiki Roads in Antwerp Road tunnels in Belgium Buildings and structures in Antwerp Tunnels completed in 1969 Railway tunnels in Belgium Immersed tube tunnels in Europe Cycling tunnels

See also

References