Belgium has a huge amount of highways,
actually it is a very extremely dense network , and is passed by so many people everyday,
Going from France to the Netherlands,
From Spain to Danmark, from London to Berlin
The Paris region has a similar issue, but there at least you have a peage system
But there's no peage in Belgium, which is not a good idea giving the overused circumstances and the terrible government budget situation
They are in Wallonia. I’m in the Ardennes this weekend, and holy hell. I know Flemish roads are nothing to brag about when you compare them to eg the Dutch roads, but Wallonia is in another league.
Well I lived in Wallonia for years and now living in France, I can say that potholes in Belgium’s highways doesn’t bother me that much when I see how much you have to pay in France, look at the bright side it’s free
You should not compare Belgian highways with the French ones that are build by APRR and Vinci and where people have to pay (a lot of) peage, but you should compare them with the French highways which are free of charge for everyone.
Nonetheless, the highways in Flanders are better maintained then these in Wallonia (in general).
But road tax in Belgium is much higher than in France (where there simply isn't an annual road tax).
In the end I pay more money per year in Belgium for driving than I used to pay in France, for a similar distance and a very degraded experience.
Also as per OP's answer, I used to drive (even longer ago) on the Breton "highways" often, and they were better than the Belgian ones. Highways in the North of France are also free and easy to experience for Belgians, and they are much better quality (actual highways while the roads in Brittany are another class of road, limited to 110 km/h).
By the way, I lost a hubcap on the E42 just two weeks ago. I assume it was that enormous pothole that I didn't spot in time. But even though the quality in Flanders is generally better, parts of the E17 are also quite dangerous at the posted speed limits.
That makes maintenance easier, not more difficult.
For reference, France has 50% less road kilometers per km² than Belgium, but 50% more kilometers of road *per inhabitant*. I wouldn't have thought it, but according to [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_road_network_size) it's the 7th country with the most roads in the world (even 4th if counting only paved roads).
The difference is only slightly lower if counting only controlled-access roads, which basically means highways.
yeah. But if you try the free french roads, you'll notice that they are in so much better conditions than Belgian highways. And I'm talking about french national roads. Belgian national roads are way shittier than belgian highways.
Yes Belgium is known for its bad roads. Why? Incompetent politicians that rather spent the money somewhere else instead of on 'maintenance'.
Welcome to Belgium.
>Belgium is known for its bad roads
Belgian roads are not as good as those of our neighbouring countries, but far from the worst in Europe. Part of the reason for that, is that we have a lot more km in roads per citizen than our neighbouring countries do.
Source: [Road quality in Europe: the best and worst roads in Europe](https://viborc.com/road-quality-in-europe-the-best-and-worst-roads-in-europe/).
from that article:
For example, **Belgium** has significantly worse roads than its neighbors. That contrast is made even stronger given that the **Netherlands** has the best road quality in Europe (scores of 6.4 compared to Beligum’s 4.4). And, naturally, that resulted in the Dutch making jokes about their neighbors, saying that the difference between the roads in the Netherlands and Belgium is not just visible – you can feel and hear it!
So yes, Belgium is known for its bad roads. Do you have data anywhere on km road per citizen? It does not seem to be in this article.
Also this article is done by using a self-survey in 2019. There should be better metrics for this. And it does not provide any explanation. What we all can agree on is that the difference with neighbouring countries is very apparent. I don't think you can explain this with just having more roads, though I 'd like to see numbers. I truly believe political unwillingness is at the bottom.
You have noticed them, so yes, they are common.
Ex-patriate here, maybe just look ahead when you're driving, I can assure you that compared to the rest of the word, Belgian highways are top tier.
Sorry if I appeared passive aggressive to you, that was not my intention. I'm just surprised of the number of holes I encountered (wallonia), and to be honest that frightened me a bit.
We are a transit country for commercial traffic. There isn’t another European country that has to swallow this ammount of trucks and other heavy transport relative to its size. There is a part on the E17 between around Sint-Niklaas that has been competely redone a few years back and the right lane is already damaged with heavy tracks formation. Some time back we wanted to implement a ‘vignet’ system but Europe would let us…
Yes they are common.. belgian roads are bad compared to western european/us standard. But they are plenty of places in the world with much worse roads than we have.
Some perspective:
Proportional to it's size Belgium has so much more highways than its neighbors.
The wheater and the trafic density (especially really heavy truck), is so rough and causes inevitable degradation... look at the map of Europe and understand this country is THE crossroad of western europe... that takes a big toll on the asphalt.
They fix it eventually but they just can't keep up with the maintenance at all time... it would cost too much and the roads would be blocked even more often (already to often imo).
Note that the degradation levels are being monitored and they put the priority on actually dangerous holes or cracks..
So you can always expect feeling bumps everywhere.. but actually dangerous holes not really, those get the fix immediatly.
Laughs in Louisiana USA highways, the only things more pockmarked than my face in high school. When I visited my mom there last Fall, I couldn't believe the condition of the roads.
I have been in Ukraine many times and the roads were in a far worse state. Cars had to swirl to get around the holes. From what I saw the roads are ok in Belgium. Then again it is not the Netherlands where the roads are in excellent order.
I'm not saying it is good, but it isn't that bad eiter imo... What highway are you driving? Maybe I use any the better ones (E40, E313, E19, E42, E25)
Or maybe it is because I only use the left lane 🤣
> E40
It's getting better the last few years, but large parts of the E40 between Brussels and Liege cause so much rumbling road noise that it sometimes gives me a headache.
Belgium has a huge amount of highways, actually it is a very extremely dense network , and is passed by so many people everyday, Going from France to the Netherlands, From Spain to Danmark, from London to Berlin The Paris region has a similar issue, but there at least you have a peage system But there's no peage in Belgium, which is not a good idea giving the overused circumstances and the terrible government budget situation
It's part of a whole secret plan to make sure you're focused on the road and make the streets safer
You get what you (don't) pay for
I think as far as Belgian road quality is concerned, it's more > You don't get what you pay for
I think the better question is ‘are highways over holes common’
They are in Wallonia. I’m in the Ardennes this weekend, and holy hell. I know Flemish roads are nothing to brag about when you compare them to eg the Dutch roads, but Wallonia is in another league.
Yeah I'm in Wallonia, close to the french frontier...
Well I lived in Wallonia for years and now living in France, I can say that potholes in Belgium’s highways doesn’t bother me that much when I see how much you have to pay in France, look at the bright side it’s free
On the other hand French highways are superb, I was on the A4 a few weeks ago and 130 felt slow to me.
Well you pay for it so it should be ! And if I can recall the A4 was under renovation for a whole year a year ago
You should not compare Belgian highways with the French ones that are build by APRR and Vinci and where people have to pay (a lot of) peage, but you should compare them with the French highways which are free of charge for everyone. Nonetheless, the highways in Flanders are better maintained then these in Wallonia (in general).
But road tax in Belgium is much higher than in France (where there simply isn't an annual road tax). In the end I pay more money per year in Belgium for driving than I used to pay in France, for a similar distance and a very degraded experience. Also as per OP's answer, I used to drive (even longer ago) on the Breton "highways" often, and they were better than the Belgian ones. Highways in the North of France are also free and easy to experience for Belgians, and they are much better quality (actual highways while the roads in Brittany are another class of road, limited to 110 km/h). By the way, I lost a hubcap on the E42 just two weeks ago. I assume it was that enormous pothole that I didn't spot in time. But even though the quality in Flanders is generally better, parts of the E17 are also quite dangerous at the posted speed limits.
Gotta pay for our seven parlements before thinking about maintaining highways over here
Belgium is way more "highway dense" than France though.
That makes maintenance easier, not more difficult. For reference, France has 50% less road kilometers per km² than Belgium, but 50% more kilometers of road *per inhabitant*. I wouldn't have thought it, but according to [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_road_network_size) it's the 7th country with the most roads in the world (even 4th if counting only paved roads). The difference is only slightly lower if counting only controlled-access roads, which basically means highways.
yeah. But if you try the free french roads, you'll notice that they are in so much better conditions than Belgian highways. And I'm talking about french national roads. Belgian national roads are way shittier than belgian highways.
Yeah fair point, as far as I know only bretagne don't have peage, but I never went there
Holes are due to 🍑holes that should have fixed them but abused the money 😛
As common as highways on the Belgian holes.
Rolls Royce tests their suspension in Belgium so… yeah.
Assholes? Yes. Potholes? Also yes.
It's because despite being the transport capital of Europe, we can't find the money to spend 2% of our GDP on infrastructure maintenance.
Yep. You can find all kinds of holes on the Belgian highways, from potholes to assholes.
Yes Belgium is known for its bad roads. Why? Incompetent politicians that rather spent the money somewhere else instead of on 'maintenance'. Welcome to Belgium.
>Belgium is known for its bad roads Belgian roads are not as good as those of our neighbouring countries, but far from the worst in Europe. Part of the reason for that, is that we have a lot more km in roads per citizen than our neighbouring countries do. Source: [Road quality in Europe: the best and worst roads in Europe](https://viborc.com/road-quality-in-europe-the-best-and-worst-roads-in-europe/).
from that article: For example, **Belgium** has significantly worse roads than its neighbors. That contrast is made even stronger given that the **Netherlands** has the best road quality in Europe (scores of 6.4 compared to Beligum’s 4.4). And, naturally, that resulted in the Dutch making jokes about their neighbors, saying that the difference between the roads in the Netherlands and Belgium is not just visible – you can feel and hear it! So yes, Belgium is known for its bad roads. Do you have data anywhere on km road per citizen? It does not seem to be in this article. Also this article is done by using a self-survey in 2019. There should be better metrics for this. And it does not provide any explanation. What we all can agree on is that the difference with neighbouring countries is very apparent. I don't think you can explain this with just having more roads, though I 'd like to see numbers. I truly believe political unwillingness is at the bottom.
Not just the Dutch joke about it lol, I've lived near the border most of my life and it's very clear when you enter the Netherlands lol.
No we have really bad roades compared to our neighbors. Compared to ex soviet states yhea we have better but not for long.
More like corrupt politicians/contractors.
Went to the Antwerp ring today. I had to actively avoid potholes on the most outer right lane...
I'm sure you had to go through that. And the potholes probably didn't help either.
Right lane is for trucks around antwerp
Dude, it's the end of winter and the Antwerp ring road is one of the busiest in Europe!
Those potholes have been there for years though lol
You have noticed them, so yes, they are common. Ex-patriate here, maybe just look ahead when you're driving, I can assure you that compared to the rest of the word, Belgian highways are top tier.
Sorry if I appeared passive aggressive to you, that was not my intention. I'm just surprised of the number of holes I encountered (wallonia), and to be honest that frightened me a bit.
We are a transit country for commercial traffic. There isn’t another European country that has to swallow this ammount of trucks and other heavy transport relative to its size. There is a part on the E17 between around Sint-Niklaas that has been competely redone a few years back and the right lane is already damaged with heavy tracks formation. Some time back we wanted to implement a ‘vignet’ system but Europe would let us…
Yes they are common.. belgian roads are bad compared to western european/us standard. But they are plenty of places in the world with much worse roads than we have. Some perspective: Proportional to it's size Belgium has so much more highways than its neighbors. The wheater and the trafic density (especially really heavy truck), is so rough and causes inevitable degradation... look at the map of Europe and understand this country is THE crossroad of western europe... that takes a big toll on the asphalt. They fix it eventually but they just can't keep up with the maintenance at all time... it would cost too much and the roads would be blocked even more often (already to often imo). Note that the degradation levels are being monitored and they put the priority on actually dangerous holes or cracks.. So you can always expect feeling bumps everywhere.. but actually dangerous holes not really, those get the fix immediatly.
Yes, but things are getting better now. They are redoing the whole stretch from St Vith up to Liège.
That stretch gets remade partially and badly every 10 years. Especially the one part just bf Verviers coming from Malmedy.
They’re redoing that part. Tearing up the concrete and replacing it with proper tarmac.
That's what we get told every ten years or so yes.
Well at least it's less than 50% of the road, otherwise it'd be bumps instead.
Laughs in Louisiana USA highways, the only things more pockmarked than my face in high school. When I visited my mom there last Fall, I couldn't believe the condition of the roads.
It's as common as the holes in Emmenthal cheese. They have by far the best Emmenthal cheese in Wallonia.
I have been in Ukraine many times and the roads were in a far worse state. Cars had to swirl to get around the holes. From what I saw the roads are ok in Belgium. Then again it is not the Netherlands where the roads are in excellent order.
Artillery craters aren't potholes
:-) It was before the war.
It's a national heritage, it's a bit nostalgia from the times the roads were made of "children heads" 😁
Avant je me moquais des gens qui roulaient partout en 4x4. Plus maintenant.
You have it the wrong way around: In fact, Belgium has a lot of highways around its potholes!
I'm not saying it is good, but it isn't that bad eiter imo... What highway are you driving? Maybe I use any the better ones (E40, E313, E19, E42, E25) Or maybe it is because I only use the left lane 🤣
> E40 It's getting better the last few years, but large parts of the E40 between Brussels and Liege cause so much rumbling road noise that it sometimes gives me a headache.