Liege E25-E40/A602 motorway link
When the E25-E40 link was brought into service in June 2000, the Amsterdam-Milan motorway axis was fully completed. This last 12.5-kilometre "missing link" connects the motorways to the north and west of Liège (E40/A3, E42/A15, E313/A13) to the Liège-Luxembourg motorway (E25/A26), thus reducing congestion on the Quai de la Dérivation in the centre of Liège.
It took six years to build the last section of the link which is 3.8 km long and comprises several highway structures :
- The Guillemins interchange and Observatoire bridge
- The tunnel under Cointe hill (the longest in Wallonia)
- The Pays de Liège bridge, a cable-stayed bridge over the Meuse
- The Kinkempois quadrilateral
- Ourthe canal open trench
- The Grosses-Battes tunnel and interchange
The road in the future…
Equipment to be renewed:
- The information and dynamic traffic-management system (in progress since 2017)
- The fire-detection system and the emergency exit doors
- The radar section (with the following improvements: lorry height detection, identification of goods being carried, extension of the radar throughout the road)
Intelligent traffic-management projects being developed:
- European C-Roads project, aiming to facilitate communication between the infrastructure and vehicles
- Dynamic speed adjustment, in order to anticipate traffic congestion
- Management of all Walloon tunnels from the Tilleuls centre
Infrastructure to be renewed:
- Convert the dual roundabout at the Burenville interchange into a light-controlled junction
- Integrate the Val Benoît interchange into the development of the tram system
Continuous improvement of safety
The E25-E40 link is closed every three months for four nights running to carry out maintenance work. Emergency services take advantage of this closure to carry out various exercises.
As the E25-E40 link includes two tunnels exceeding 500 metres in length, located on the Trans-European Transport network, a European directive on the safety of tunnels obliges SOFICO to fulfil certain safety requirements. Therefore, traffic on the link is monitored at the Centre Tilleuls, alongside the link, where operators are present 24 hours a day.
There are 130 cameras along the link, fitted with automatic incident detection systems (AID). This technology can detect anomalies like a stationary vehicle, a slowdown, a pedestrian, the appearance of smoke, etc. A signal is sent to the operator who must check and confirm the validity of the alert. The operator then implements an appropriate scenario.
