The Rampart, The Traffic Artery, and the Park; Designing for the city regions of Antwerp

and Deurne could prevent the urbanisation of Schoten. Thereby catering to
Antwerp’s wish to get a hold on the growth of the periphery. The tram line and
bicycle highway will be joined after the industrial area at the Albert Canal,
where it will continue on the track of the Krijgsbaan. Near the Scheldt both of
these will loop back to the city centre, to the junction of the Kennedytunnel and
the new Scheldt bridge. Half way to the city, the tram line and bicycle highway
will branch off to the connection to the left bank. On the short term this
can be a ferry connection, on the long term, once the left bank has started to
urbanise, a more permanent connection might be appropriate, like a bridge or
tunnel.
On the left bank the tram line will continue till the P+R structure
at the edge of Zwijndrecht. A subsequent bus line will pick up the trajectory
further to the north, to the industrial area at fort Sint-Marie and the harbour
beyond. This will reflect the more rural character of the Krijgsbaan on this side.
The entirety of the Krijgsbanen on the left and right bank will become a bicycle
highway. In design, both of these roads will become boulevards lined with
trees to establish the pearl necklace with the green areas of the forts. In cross
section, the boulevard on the left will be less monumental than its right bank
counterpart, meaning a lower maximum building height and street width. This
is to reflect the roads more rural setting.
For the green belt around the city, the existing infrastructural plans will be
scaled up. The public transport and bicycle highway will be extended to go
around the entirety of the ring park, including the section on the north side
of Linkeroever to stimulate its transition to part of Antwerp’s inner-city. The
current end of the public transport infrastructure at the Blancefloerlaan – the
old chaussee to Ghent with the visual axis to the cathedral – will be extended
to the north, to join the already planned bicycle highway. A similar bridge as
the one from the south, one for public transport and cyclists/pedestrians, will
be constructed on the northern side of Linkeroever, to visually connect the
left and the right. The continuation of this transport line will be used as the
defining edge of the densification of Linkeroever, leaving a broad strip between
it and Zwijndrecht and Burcht for the ring park (more on this in chapter X).
Linkeroever’s direct connections to the inner-city of Antwerp will be improved
as well. The Charles de Costerlaan, the boulevard that is disconnected from
the highway, will be reconnected to its historic counterpart; the Dwarslaan,
to give the boulevard a proper ‘end’ and to create another public transport
corridor into Linkeroever and Antwerp. An additional tunnel for cars and public
transport, tram and bus (and possibly cyclists), will be added to the east of the
Galgeweel, connecting to the southern part of the Leien. This will relieve the
Waaslandtunnel, which does not meet current safety regulations. As a result of
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