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BRUSSELS STUDIES INSTITUTE

Project Steenweg: more than a pedestrian boulevard

 “The “Steenweg” is the name of the central road section of the medieval road network between the porte de Flandre and the porte de Namur. From its original construction until the 19th century, it was the main traffic artery between the harbour district, the Grand-Place and the palace, as well as the heart of the extensive road network between Brussels and the other European and Belgian cities. Afterwards, this road changed considerably due to the major works of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Today, the Steenweg still forms the main spatial link between the west and east of the city, the lower and upper valleys, along the underground railroad. It connects a significant number of structures: chaussée de Gand, the Sainte-Catherine neigbourhood, la Bourse, the Grand-Place, the Central Station, le Mont des Arts, la place Royale, l’avenue de la Toison d’Or, Matonge and the chaussée d’Ixelles. This exceptional historical heritage makes the Steenweg one of the important strategic axes for the redevelopment of the metropolitan city centre. This is all the more true since the GoodMove regional mobility plan aims to make it the main “pedestrian boulevard” in the east-west direction. To develop this idea, perspective.brussels entrusted the BSI-BCO in 2019 with a scientific support mission for the realisation of a diagnosis, the formulation of a call for tenders for “design studies” and the follow-up of these studies.”

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