The road got excellent pavement and new markings. Why was the bike path not included in the renewal? It's really frustrating to cycle on this bumpy path centimeters beside the perfect surface. The height difference is adding another level of annoyance.
Why is it done this way? Saving costs? Different responsibilities: state-road, municipality – cycle path?

by trailbob

21 comments

  2. This is indeed a disgrace.

    What’s even worse: It’s unbelievable that they still even use concrete for new bike paths. Concrete is more expensive, more uncomfortable and less durable. I don’t know what idiots decide this every time again.

  3. Because cars are more important. Or at least that’s the way we treat the topic in Belgium.

  5. I wouldn’t be surprised its because car roads and bike paths are in different budget categories with different maintenance and renewal plan.

  7. So they can close the street in a few months again, to make a better bike path and annoy the cars

    Btw, next year there is probably a proximus work planned in that street, so get ready to break up that nice new bike path

  8. Because bikes are awesome. They barely cause any wear on the road surface compared to cars. Roads having to be repaved often is not a good thing.

  9. The day you pay road tax is the day you also get a new bike lane.

  11. Because the underlying foundation is different for the road and the concrete bike lane. Putting asfalt on top of the concrete bike lane will lead tot cracks in thé top layer.
    That’s why I heard, but feel free to confirm.

  12. They probably renewed the road in a day (only a new top layer of let’s say 5 to 6cm needed).
    But the bycycle path is clearly concrete blocs (you see it with the seams), and these blocs can easily be 20cm in height.

    So to redo the bycycle path, you first need to break these blocs (instead of just ‘frezen’ for the asphalt), fill in the difference with additional layers of asphalt (there is a max per layer depending of the type, due to the structure and compaction phase).
    The asphalt needs also to cool a few hours down between each layer.

    So you are talking about a one day job vs an one week job, that can be the reason.

    And then you still a have a moordstrookje…

  13. @OP: if you contact your local government over this (please do), if they respond, please let me know what they said.

    Im extremely curious to see how they justify this

  14. Geen idee waarom ze die niet meedoen, moet misschien een rode laag asfalt over?

  15. The same issue is present in [Aalst, Moortselbaan](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Moorselbaan,+9300+Aalst/@50.9447735,4.0653499,3a,75y,97.07h,86.43t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s3hxDGn1LDqg8QTWW9P12wQ!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D3.5749640968002154%26panoid%3D3hxDGn1LDqg8QTWW9P12wQ%26yaw%3D97.07071485303355!7i16384!8i8192!4m6!3m5!1s0x47c397d667bafe2f:0x3a241a525ba9715b!8m2!3d50.9447524!4d4.0652008!16s%2Fg%2F1wfcn9ly?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDkxNy4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D).

    I asked [https://meldpuntwegen.be/meldpuntwegen/index.html](https://meldpuntwegen.be/meldpuntwegen/index.html) why. This is their answer:

    >We begrijpen uw bezorgdheid over de fietspaden langs de Moorselbaan in Aalst.

    >De rijweg heeft inderdaad een nieuwe toplaag gekregen naar aanleiding van de werken aan de fietstunnel in 2021. Het was toen helaas niet mogelijk om alle fietspaden af te vrezen en op volledige dikte te overlagen.

    >Investeren in veilige en comfortabele fietsinfrastructuur is een van onze speerpunten. Daarom weken we momenteel aan een investeringsproject voor een heraaleg van veiligere fietspaden langs de Moorselbaan. Een dergelijk project vraagt heel wat voorbereiding. Een goede voorbereiding is essentieel om tot een veilige en duurzame oplossing te komen.

    >De nodige verwervingen om conforme fietspaden aan te leggen zijn momenteel lopende. De doorkijk naar middelen voor de werken zelf hebben we vooralsnog niet op een [geiïntegreerd investeringsprogramma](https://www.vlaanderen.be/departement-mobiliteit-en-openbare-werken/mobiliteitsprojecten-in-vlaanderen/geintegreerd-investeringsprogramma-mobiliteit-en-openbare-werken) maar samen met stad Aalst doen we het maximale om het dossier verder te zetten richting een omgevingsvergunning. Daarna kunnen wij een geschikte aannemer zoeken om de werken uit te voeren. De startdatum hangt dus af van het verloop van alle vorige stappen.

    >In de tussentijd verzekeren wij u dat onze wegentoezichters de situatie langs de Moorselbaan verder
    blijven opvolgen.

    Maybe you can ask the same for that road?

    But I presume it’ll be a similar reason there. Removing the top layer of asphalt and putting a new one is quick and easy. It’s more “difficult” to break up the bike paths and redo them properly.

    An example of a similar situation where they are now actually FINALLY fixing decades-old bike [paths is from Denderhoutem to Ninove](https://www.google.com/maps/@50.8584763,4.0213616,3a,75y,164.52h,87.78t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sOrHqBqR5W_ofTStm0s0gPA!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D2.2205417676756554%26panoid%3DOrHqBqR5W_ofTStm0s0gPA%26yaw%3D164.52331850789759!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDkxNy4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D). As I’m typing this, they are redoing the entire road. Note that the cracked concrete was there for over 20 years.

    In Denderhoutem itself, it was a long time like this: [https://www.google.com/maps/@50.8673573,4.0183315,3a,75y,168.69h,74.15t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sqXLvdzgQMGFgZs61Kb8bZw!2e0!5s20211001T000000!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D15.850716649522454%26panoid%3DqXLvdzgQMGFgZs61Kb8bZw%26yaw%3D168.69344446635034!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDkxNy4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D](https://www.google.com/maps/@50.8673573,4.0183315,3a,75y,168.69h,74.15t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sqXLvdzgQMGFgZs61Kb8bZw!2e0!5s20211001T000000!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D15.850716649522454%26panoid%3DqXLvdzgQMGFgZs61Kb8bZw%26yaw%3D168.69344446635034!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDkxNy4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D)

    But now they fixed it:

    [https://www.google.com/maps/@50.8673249,4.0183603,3a,75y,168.69h,74.15t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1shiV9k_JbdRqdTMG30e0j4Q!2e0!5s20250401T000000!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D15.850716649522454%26panoid%3DhiV9k_JbdRqdTMG30e0j4Q%26yaw%3D168.69344446635034!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDkxNy4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D](https://www.google.com/maps/@50.8673249,4.0183603,3a,75y,168.69h,74.15t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1shiV9k_JbdRqdTMG30e0j4Q!2e0!5s20250401T000000!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D15.850716649522454%26panoid%3DhiV9k_JbdRqdTMG30e0j4Q%26yaw%3D168.69344446635034!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDkxNy4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D)

  17. Because this is Belgium and this road probably connects to a pothole concrete road with black tar inbetween each slab after one kilometer

  18. Fietspad? Nee joh, dat is gewoon een visuele reminder dat fietsers tweederangs burgers zijn. We geven ze een strook gravel naast de glimmende autobaan, zodat ze weten waar ze thuishoren: in de marge.

  19. How old was the asphalt that was there before? If it’s from before 1990 it often contains tar, and if so, it has to be sent to special waste facilities which charge sell-a-kidney prices. So what a lot of municipalities do is to kick the can further down the road by only scraping away the top layer of asphalt and throwing a new layer on top. I mean, what has ever gone wrong with postponing an environmental issue by implementing a quick fix that generates even more contaminated waste?

    And if you’re already trying to minimize the cost with irresponsible decisions: What you’re seeing was probably the width of the machine, would have otherwise taken two passes and costed more.

    On the bright side, at least the idiots on their phone while driving or cycling will now feel a bump if they start going out of their lane I guess…

  20. I don’t understand your question. It doesn’t look like the bike path has been renewed?

  21. Then they wonder why cyclists ride on the road and not on the bicycle lane.

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