Belgium Motorway Network Evolution (1939–2026) | Animated Map

Описание: Watch Belgium's motorway network grow from 1939 to November 2026 in an animated map.

Follow the first section between Jabbeke and Aalter (1940), the Brussels–Ostend motorway, the E19, E40, E411, E313, E314, E17, E42 and E25, the Brussels Ring, the Antwerp Ring with the Kennedy Tunnel (1969), the Liefkenshoek Tunnel (1991) and the Liège link through the Cointe Tunnel (2000). The timeline also shows roads that left the motorway network: the A601 near Liège, closed to traffic in 2014, the Brussels end of the A3 in 2019, and the A201 airport road in 2022.

ABOUT THE MAP
Sections appear at their documented opening dates. A date known only to the year or month is drawn at the start of that period. Where the first opening date is unknown, a confirmed in-service state is marked "By" followed by the year. Sources sometimes disagree by a year or more, and sections with no dated source are left undrawn, including parts of the R4 around Ghent, the R8 at Kortrijk and several short B roads.
Green lines show expressways without motorway status. Route and kilometre counters exclude them until a documented upgrade.
Road lines follow today's centreline, not the exact alignment of the opening year. Routes are labelled with today's numbers, even before those numbers were in use. Faint background streets and urban areas are present-day map context.

CHAPTERS
00:00 Before the first motorway: the A12 (1939)
00:12 Brussels to Ostend, the first motorway
01:05 Brussels reached, then Antwerp to Liège
02:15 One hundred kilometres a year
06:45 1,000 km and the ring roads
10:47 The Ardennes and the eastern borders
14:11 Completing the network
15:49 The last missing links
16:05 Upgrades, closures and new links

SOURCES
Wegen-Routes.be — Belgian motorway history and yearly opening lists (most section dates):
https://www.wegen-routes.be/
SOFICO — Liège E25–E40/A602 motorway link:
https://sofico.org/en/missing-links/l...
Additional evidence: Wikipedia articles in Dutch, French and German, road agency documents and news reports listed in the project source ledgers.

MAP CREDITS
Roads: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). A601: Service public de Wallonie (SPW) – Réseau routier régional (2025-12-02), CC BY 4.0: https://geodata.wallonie.be/id/bdcb78...
Borders: © EuroGeographics, via Eurostat GISCO. Places: Statbel, GeoNames, Natural Earth. Water: Natural Earth. Background map: Protomaps / © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright

MUSIC
Music by GalaxyTones, licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/.... Level adjusted.
"Mystery" — https://galaxytones.bandcamp.com/trac...
"Stellar Hills" — https://galaxytones.bandcamp.com/trac...
"Floating" — https://galaxytones.bandcamp.com/trac...
"Dreaming Journey" — https://galaxytones.bandcamp.com/trac...
"Synesthesia" — https://galaxytones.bandcamp.com/trac...
All five recordings are played in full, in the order listed.

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