Never have the roads in the north of the country been so congested: an average of almost 900 kilometres per hour of traffic jams per working day has been recorded over the last 12 months. Find out which cities are most affected by these slowdowns.
The main roads in the north of Belgium have experienced an unprecedented situation in terms of traffic jams.
According to data published by the Flemish statistical office, Statistiek Vlaanderen, the severity of traffic jams reached an average of 897 kilometres per hour per working day over the last twelve months.
This means that, every working day, 897 kilometres of queues were observed for an average of one hour, marking a historic record.
An upward trend since the end of the pandemic
The increase in traffic jams is not a recent phenomenon, but it has been exacerbated in recent years. After a peak in 2018, a slight decrease was observed, followed by a sharp drop in March 2020, at the beginning of the coronavirus crisis.
However, as early as April 2021, a few months after the start of the health crisis, the queues began to grow again, reaching new peaks from July 2023.
Antwerp and Brussels: the most congested areas
The regions of Antwerp and Brussels are by far the most affected by these traffic jams. In Antwerp, the situation worsened even more quickly than in the capital until the beginning of 2020.
In contrast, the Ghent region and the rest of Flanders experience much less congestion on their main roads.
The drastic drop in traffic jam severity observed from March 2020 was particularly marked in the Antwerp and Brussels regions, which have also seen the most significant increases since April 2021.
Car traffic company Belgium
