E40 Near Bertem Closed for 4,000-Tonne Bridge Move

The E40 motorway near Bertem in Flemish Brabant will be fully closed in both directions from Saturday evening until early Sunday afternoon, as the Flemish roads agency Wegen en Verkeer moves a new 4,000-tonne steel arch bridge into its permanent position over the motorway. The closure begins at 20:00 on Saturday 10 October and is expected to last until shortly after midday on Sunday 11 October, though the agency says an exact end time cannot be given because the timing depends on how the operation progresses.

The lift-and-roll operation is a rarely staged engineering feat. The bridge, which is 30 metres tall, will be raised with jacks and driven roughly 200 metres on Self-Propelled Modular Trailers (SPMTs) — computer-controlled, multi-axle heavy-load vehicles — from the construction site alongside the motorway onto its abutments. Engineers expect the structure to be in place by around 02:00 on Sunday morning.

A short distance, a long night

Although the transport distance is only about 200 metres, the sheer weight and high manoeuvring constraints mean the lift and roll-in will take most of the night. Once the bridge is seated, Wegen en Verkeer will restore the central reservation and install lighting columns before reopening the motorway.

Drivers are being diverted via regional roads — chiefly the N2 (Brusselsesteenweg/Leuvensesteenweg between Brussels and Leuven) and the E314. Traffic lights along the diversion route have been set to flashing mode to improve flow, and the Flemish Traffic Centre is advising road users to avoid the wider Bertem area and to postpone travel where possible.

Ramps matter for local traffic: the two E40 on-ramps in Bertem remain open, letting local traffic join the motorway toward both Brussels and Leuven/Liège. The off-ramps, however, are closed for the duration. Drivers approaching from Brussels who would normally exit at Bertem must leave the motorway earlier, and traffic arriving from Leuven or Liège cannot exit at Bertem.

One change comes earlier than first announced: the E40 on-ramp at Sterrebeek toward Liège closes at 18:00 on Saturday, two hours before the motorway itself, because technical adjustments to the traffic lights at the Sterrebeek interchange can only be made while the ramp is shut. The diversion via the Leuvensesteenweg (N2) therefore takes effect from 18:00.

Why a ‘bowstring’ bridge

The new structure replaces an ageing beam bridge that carried the Tervuursesteenweg (N3) over the E40. That bridge was in poor condition and could no longer be renovated, so it was demolished and rebuilt from scratch. Because the span had to be about 130 metres long, engineers chose a steel arch design — specifically a ‘bowstring’ bridge. In a classic arch bridge, forces push downward and outward, requiring heavy abutments; in a bowstring bridge, a steel beam at the base ties the arch ends together so the structure works mainly in downward forces, allowing smaller foundations — ideal where space is tight.

The design also removes the old bridge’s pillars from the central reservation and along the carriageway. “On the E40 the heavy bridge pillars in the central reservation and along the carriageway disappear: that makes it considerably safer for motorway users,” project manager Cédric Vaast said when the project was announced. “On the Tervuursesteenweg we can now also build separate, wide cycle paths. The new bridge will also be more elegant and more beautiful than the current one.”

Mural and a public viewing moment

The new bridge carries a colourful mural by artists from the collective Treepack, inspired by local fauna and flora. “The idea is that the bridge is taken over by plants and flowers that grow over the pillars,” Treepack’s Junes Bazouz told VRT NWS. Working up to 20 metres high on aerial platforms, the artists said the difficulty lay mainly in the many different surfaces to be reached.

Rather than keep the public away entirely, Wegen en Verkeer has organised a viewing zone at Tervuursesteenweg 308 in Bertem, open from 21:00 to 01:00. Residents are warned that between phases there may be long stretches with little visible movement, given the size and slow pace of the operation. The agency says the measure both keeps a bond with the neighbourhood and keeps spectators away from unsafe parts of the site — the same approach it took when the old bridge was removed.

What’s next

The weekend closure is the most visible milestone in a project that began in early 2025 with three months of controlled asbestos removal from the old bridge under an enclosed, pressurised tent. The old span was demolished in the weekend of 31 January 2026, also using SPMTs, and the new bridge was assembled alongside the E40 over the following months.

According to Gemeente Zaventem, which issued a disruption notice to residents, the bridge placement is the centrepiece of the weekend’s works. After the bridge is in place, Wegen en Verkeer will renew the Tervuursesteenweg on either side of the structure and build a Hoppinpoint at the carpool car park. Under the current schedule, the works are due to be fully finished by the end of 2026, with no further E40 disruption after 26 November. For now, the message to motorists is simple: avoid the Bertem area this weekend if you can.