Region Brussels

Go for an online drive on the new Brussels orbital

The Flemish Roads and Traffic Agency has launched an online road simulator to give drivers a taste of what it will be like to drive on the Brussels orbital motorway once the plans for the road come to fruition. The Flemish Transport minister Ben Weyts (Nationalist) unveiled his ambitious plans for the Brussels orbital ring road on 28 March. Through traffic and local traffic will be separated between the junction with the western arm of the E40 in Groot-Bijgaarden and the eastern arm of the E40 in Zaventem (both Flemish Brabant).

Via the www.werkenaandering.be/simulator motorists can get used to what will be a very big change. The site shows the dashboard of a virtual car. The visitor to the site must first choose his/her departure point and can then steer the virtual vehicle by using the arrows on his/her keyboard.

The online driving simulator is based on preliminary plans for the orbital motorway and will not be 100% true to the finals plans that are still being drafted.

In a few months the Flemish Government will launch an offline simulator to cover all the roads in the region that it plans to change/improve.

This will use virtual reality glasses that react to the user’s eye movement. Acceleration and breaking will be done using peddles. The off-line simulator will be used at meetings that will be held in the autumn for those living around planned major roadworks. Work on the Brussels orbital motorway will get under way in 2019.
 

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