After almost two years of work, Vestdijk and Hertogstraat are open to all traffic again.
Vestdijk’s gradually transformed into a green city boulevard. It has more space for pedestrians and cyclists. It also only has one lane for cars and one for buses. On Friday, 19 June, Councillor Monique List-de Roos removed several barriers. In doing so, she allowed thoroughfare traffic again.
She, along with Mario Goossens granted the first passage to two chairmen called Willem. These were Willem Regeer, the SDBE (Eindhoven Inner City Trading Platform) and VVE Mignot and Blockplein’s Willem van Erp. This is a business owners association. Mario Goossens is a director at Strabag. Strabag is the road construction company that did the work on the contract.
More green to added
After that, the remaining traffic could access the renovated Vestdijk too. The council will soon add trees and ornamental greenery. This will be on the southern part of Vestdijk and in Hertogstraat. The lighting’s also still being worked on.
The opening was kept small, thanks to the anti-coronavirus measures. “But we wanted to experience this moment together,” says Councillor List-de Roos. “We worked intensively with Strabag, residents’ representatives, and business people.
“It was certainly not an easy process. But we can be proud of the end result. The new, green Vestdijk’s an asset to our city centre in every respect. As is the redeveloped Hertogstraat and Kanaalstraat,” says the Councillor.
‘Towards a healthier city centre’
“The new Vestdijk’s a step towards a healthy, attractive and climate-proof city centre,” reads an Eindhoven City Council press release. “There’s more space for cyclists and pedestrians and more greenery.”
That will improve air quality. The speed limit is 30 km/hr too. “In this way, the redevelopment contributes to the desired traffic reduction. At the same time, it keeps the inner city easily accessible.”
“A climate-adaptive water storage facility has been constructed to deal with flooding on the Vestdijk and its immediate surroundings. The rainwater now flows, slower, via a large underground storage facility to the Dommel river,” the statement reads.
Separate cycle path
The opening also affected traffic. Cyclists can use the new, separate two-way cycle path along the entire redesigned section. This runs via Vestdijk to Hertogstraat and on to Kanaalstraat.
Car traffic can again reach the city centre from the south via Stratumsedijk/Hertogstraat. Vestdijk’s no longer accessible for cars from 18 Septemberplein. There’s an exclusive bus lane to the south too.
Find more information, including a map, here.
Source: Eindhoven Municipality
Translator: Melinda Walraven
And now please continue with Geldropseweg which had already been in worse condition than Vestdijk two years ago.