Brussels Airport assigned Arcadis, a global design and consultancy agency, to create a design to optimize the infrastructure of the airport from 2025 forward. The design, however, has been leaked to the press.
On September 2017 the airport already released a video on Youtube showcasing how the airport could look like in 2040. Gradually more details unfold: the Arcadis-design mentions two possible solutions for upgrading the runway infrastructure, in particular on runway 07R/25L. Next to option 1: to keep the runway in the current status, option 2 raises eyebrows among the local residents: an extension of the taxiway alongside runway 07R/25L, an extension of the runway itself by 900 meters and the construction of a 18m high and 4km long wall around that runway infrastructure. (a better image of option 2 can be found in the “Het Nieuwsblad“-tweet at the bottom of this article).
Despite the giant wall, the noise impact is expected to double, Kortenberg Mayor Chris Taes expects. “The airport might have big plans, but we will do everything possible to prevent the constructions“, he told newspaper Het Nieuwsblad.
On the other side of the runway Steenokkerzeel Mayor Kurt Ryon is also dissatisfied: “If the design goes through, between 16 and 22 homes will have to be expropriated.”
Next Wednesday Brussels Airport will organize an information session.
Uitbreiding Brussels Airport bedreigt buurgemeenten: “Ons dorp mag geen tweede Doel worden” https://t.co/m49rwjxQbi #nieuwsblad pic.twitter.com/N4MpO58pA1
— Nieuwsblad.be (@Nieuwsblad_be) January 22, 2018
