Antwerp (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Motorists heading from Deurne onto the Antwerp Ring (R1) towards Ghent and Brussels will face a full closure this weekend as part of the ongoing Oosterweel connection programme.
The Deurne entrance will be fully blocked from Friday night September 4th, starting at 23:00, through Sunday morning September 6th, until 11:00, as announced by the traffic information and project information updates. This is just one of many short and highly impactful actions that will be taken during the month of September in preparation for large traffic changes connected to the Oosterweel project.
What exactly will drivers experience during the closure?
In those 36 hours, motorists will not have access to the Ring from Deurne toward Ghent and Brussels, but rather will be diverted to make use of the Borgerhout interchange in order to join the highway in that direction. The work being done will consist of preparatory work which can only be performed when there is no active traffic on the roadways in question. As in other Oosterweel measures, the choice of time period for the work—late Friday night until Sunday morning—is meant to minimize interference during busy commute periods.
How does this fit into September’s wider works calendar?
This shutdown marks the beginning of a series of traffic disruptions that will take place up until late September to help determine how the traffic flow operates in Antwerp. In the early morning of Wednesday, September 2nd and Thursday, September 3rd, the exit to Deurne will be closed down between 1:00 AM and 2:30 AM as part of the preliminary steps that will usher in two very busy weeks. Further into September, an important step will occur in the project when a new exit underpass to Deurne from the direction of Ghent/Brussels will be opened up during the 18th-21st of September weekend.
Apart from the Ring, other key projects are also being arranged to prevent overlap disruptions. The Beverentunnel on R2 will be closed in both directions from Friday, September 11, at 21:00 to Monday, September 14, at 05:00, and this has been planned in such a way that both R1 and R2 will not experience overlapping disruption. Other sections of Bypass on the north part of the Ring will also become operational by the end of September and November.
Who is behind the works and what are they saying?
The works will be carried out under the supervision of Lantis, which is the Flemish government client overseeing major mobility and livability initiatives in Antwerp. In its announcements, Lantis has referred to the September schedule as a set of “necessary, coordinated interventions” allowing for the next steps towards the Oosterweel connection while minimizing total disruption. Time and time again, the agency emphasizes that the works are taking place predominantly at night and at weekends, with a warning to the drivers about “time-limited but significant disruption.”
When has the Deurne on‑ramp or nearby sections been closed before?
This is not the first time that the Deurne on-ramp and nearby sections of the Antwerp Ring were blocked due to construction work for the Oosterweel project. On November 5, 2025, there was an extensive intervention at the Deurne on-ramp towards Ghent, where various ramps and connections, including essential connections between the E313 and the R1, had been temporarily blocked off. At that time, the traffic lanes at the Ring towards Ghent, from the AFAS Dome to Antwerp-East, were reduced to three lanes with speed limits of 70 km/h.
