The Flemish Waterway

Seine-Schelde. Transit through Menen - demolition of buildings

Seine Schelde Vlaanderen is a large-scale inland shipping project of De Vlaamse Waterweg nv, with support of the European Union. The project wants to make inland navigation a fully-fledged alternative to road transport of goods. Inland navigation is cheap, reliable and sustainable. With these advantages, transport by water offers a solution to the increasing traffic jam problem on our roads. After all, a 4,500 ton vessel can take up to 220 trucks off the road.

In order to offer container and push ships a smooth passage, the connection between the Seine and the Schelde must be improved. At dozens of locations, more than 70 adjustments will be made for inland navigation, as well as for river restoration, recreation and urban renewal.

In Menen, the River Lys meanders lazily through the landscape. This makes it difficult for large ships to navigate smoothly. After all, large ships are longer and therefore less manoeuvrable. After investigating various possibilities, straightening the bend in the centre of Menen proved to be the best option. A new, higher fixed central bridge will also be built to make three-layer container shipping possible. In addition, a great deal of public land will be redesigned to make Menen a city on the water again.

To be able to do this, a lot of existing buildings in Menen have to be demolished. Researchers appointed by OVAM are involved in these demolition works and collect data (prices, material flows, etc.) on selective demolition and the selective collection and removal of specific material flows. To this end, they work together with the demolition management organisation Tracimat.