Motorway service areas
SOFICO manages around one hundred rest areas along the Walloon motorways. They allow users to take a break from their journey and to take advantage of the many other services available.
There are 4 types of motorway service areas based on the extent of the services offered :
Type I areas
Filling station, shops, meals and refreshments, business centre (reception, meeting rooms, etc.), hotel, toilets, outside facilities (picnic area, children’s playground, rest area, etc.)
TYPE III areas
Shops, meals and refreshments, toilets, outside facilities (picnic area, children’s playground, etc.)
Type II areas
Filling station, shops, meals and refreshments, toilets, outside facilities (picnic area, children’s playground, rest area, etc.)
TYPE IV areas
Outside facilities
View the map showing the various services offered at our motorway service areas here.
SOFICO licences out about 40 service areas to oil companies or SMEs which carry out maintenance and provide services there. These companies provide additional financial resources to modernise the areas, particularly focussing on :
- Improving services and adapting them to suit users’ requirements: meals and refreshments, WIFI, meeting rooms, shops, etc.
- Ensuring as much self-sufficiency in renewable energies as possible
- Using high-performance materials
- Integrating the service areas into the local economy in line with local partners
- Creating car parks for heavy goods vehicles and car-pooling car parks, etc.
To improve the quality of service even more, inspections and audits of motorway service areas – whether licensed out or not – are regularly conducted by the Walloon Commission on motorway facilities (CWEA).
Alcohol-free motorway service areas
SOFICO also wants to move towards forbidding the sale of alcohol in the motorway service areas in its network. This aim took concrete form in September 2017 when it renewed the concession for the Bierges service area which became the first alcohol-free motorway service area in Wallonia.
Selective sorting in rest areas too…
67 non-concessionaire rest areas running alongside the motorways of Wallonia are equipped with a machine that enables selective sorting.
Users can thus continue the responsible sorting practices already in place in Belgian households, which promote recycling of waste collected from dustbins in the rest areas.
This machine enables users to separate the PMCs (Plastic wrappings, Metal wrappings and beverage Cartons) from other waste that they dispose of in the dustbins in these areas. These dustbins are only meant to collect the waste generated by users during their journey on the road. Users can thus recreate waste sorting which is widely implemented in households.
Sufficient car parking spaces for heavy goods vehicles
Given the large number of heavy goods vehicles using the structuring network, we need to ensure that there are sufficient parking spaces that are properly indicated, well maintained and that offer rest areas. It is also essential to ensure that lorries are spread out in a balanced way in the spaces provided.