Brussels to Leuven cycling highway ready in 2025

It will run for 16 kilometres, allowing daily commuters a safe and sustainable mobility route option

Recently, authorities in Belgium announced the construction of a new bicycle highway that will connect the city of Leuven in Flanders with Brussels, the country's capital. A lot of people already make the journey between the two cities by bike daily, as part of their commute to work.

However, according to the Flemish Government, creating the highway will also make the journey safer and faster. Construction will start next year, while the finish date is set for 2025. The Werkvennootschap, a public works company, will link the highway to a planned cycling ring around Brussels.

Inter-city commuting by bike

This year, bicycle highways have started to take off in the EU as a new infrastructure solution for sustainable urban mobility. Local authorities across multiple Member States have begun working on projects, from Vienna to Munich, to Hamburg.

These pieces of infrastructure are meant to handle the growing number of bicycle commuters and offer safe routes through cities or rural areas. And, although most cities still do not have enough bike traffic to warrant the massive development, as Munich’s Deputy Mayor Katrin Habenschaden explained in a statement in May 2022: “If you sow cycling highways, you get cyclists.”

The cycling highway will be 16 kilometres long and will pass near the town of Tervuren, before connecting Leuven’s ring road to Brussels’ outer ring. From there, commuters will be able to use the local connected infrastructure in the capital.

The route also dubbed the F29, will feature a number of bridges and crossings as it weaves itself through car roads, giving people a safe and fast way to travel between the two cities by bike.   

Moreover, this will be the second cycling highway between the two cities, with the first one following the rail connection from Leuven to Brussels. The first one, however, leads cyclists into the north part of the city, while the second will approach the Brussels ring road from the south.