Driving from Antwerp to Brussels this weekend? Here is what the E19 closure changes

The wording matters because the E19 itself is not being closed for the entire journey between Antwerp and Brussels. AWV says the unavailable section is the connecting ramp at the Antwerpen-Zuid interchange for R1 traffic arriving from the northern side of the city and trying to enter the E19 towards Mechelen and Brussel.

Traffic approaching Antwerpen-Zuid on the R1 from Ghent can continue onto the E19 towards Brussels, according to the agency. That distinction may not be obvious to occasional drivers, international residents or visitors relying on a navigation application, so the direction from which a vehicle reaches the interchange is as important as its destination.

The road authority is replacing worn asphalt on the bridge carrying the aansluiting Antwerpse ring over to the motorway. Contractors will remove the existing surface, lay new asphalt and leave it sufficient time to cool. AWV says the timetable remains dependent on suitable weather and working conditions, meaning the closure could still be postponed or adjusted.

For affected traffic, AWV’s designated route leaves the R1 at exit 5 and runs through Gerard le Grellelaan, the Binnensingel or R10, and Generaal Lemanstraat or N155 before joining the E19 at the Craeybeckxtunnel. These are the Dutch names drivers will normally see on signs in Antwerp, where the competent local authority is the Stad Antwerpen and municipal terminology generally uses gemeente rather than the French commune.

Anyone travelling onward to Brussel should remember that Belgian place names can change with the language of the signs and interface: Brussel is Dutch, Bruxelles is French and Brussels is English. Navigation systems may display more than one version. Road signs in Flanders principally use Dutch, while signs inside the bilingual Brussels-Capital Region use both Dutch and French. Entering the road numbers—R1, R10, N155 and E19—can therefore be more dependable than searching only by translated place names.

AWV also identifies the A12 from Antwerpen-Zuid as an alternative towards Brussels. That option avoids the closed connection but should not be treated as a guaranteed time-saver: displaced vehicles can create congestion on parallel routes, while local streets along the official diversion may become slow. The Vlaams Verkeerscentrum specifically advises motorists to expect delays around the diversion during daytime hours.

Before setting out, check the live map on Verkeerscentrum.be and compare it with the route offered by your navigation service. Do not follow an improvised shortcut through residential streets merely because an application predicts a small gain; temporary signs and police instructions take precedence. Travellers with a flight, international train, appointment or timed event should build in a margin rather than relying on the normal Antwerp-to-Brussels driving time.

The Vlaams Verkeerscentrum’s 2026 maintenance calendar lists a separate closure at Antwerpen-Zuid from 21:00 on Thursday 10 September until 06:00 on Friday 11 September. During that overnight operation, the connections from both the Netherlands side and the Ghent side of the R1 to the E19 towards Brussels are listed as closed, together with the E19 from Antwerpen-Zuid to Wilrijk.

That overnight maintenance ends well before the weekend closure is scheduled to begin at 22:00 on Friday. Nevertheless, people travelling late on Thursday should not assume that the arrangements described for Saturday apply to them. The live traffic map is the safest reference because it reflects the current phase rather than a general weekend summary.

There may also be pressure farther south. The Vlaams Verkeerscentrum lists works at the R0/E19 interchange in Machelen during the same weekend, including restricted capacity for traffic coming from the Brussels outer ring. Although that is a different movement from the closed Antwerp ramp, the overlap illustrates why a journey across the Antwerp–Mechelen–Brussels corridor should be planned as a whole rather than around one junction alone.

For passengers travelling between the two city centres, NMBS/SNCB says Antwerp and Brussels have direct rail connections with an average journey time of about 45 minutes. Its route page lists Antwerpen-Centraal, Antwerpen-Berchem and Antwerpen-Zuid among the principal Antwerp stations, and Brussel-Noord/Bruxelles-Nord, Brussel-Centraal/Bruxelles-Central and Brussel-Zuid/Bruxelles-Midi among the main Brussels stations.

NMBS says weekend services on the route normally begin early in the morning and continue until late at night, but passengers should still enter the exact date and time in the NMBS/SNCB journey planner or app. That check matters because engineering work or timetable changes can affect an individual service even when the general route remains available. Travellers heading to Brussels Airport-Zaventem should choose the airport as the destination rather than a Brussels city station; NMBS notes that the required airport supplement is included automatically in most qualifying tickets.

The closure is a short maintenance intervention, not a permanent change to the Antwerpse ring E19 connection. Its broader lesson is practical: Belgium’s motorway interchanges often contain several direction-specific links, and an announcement that an aansluiting is closed rarely means every movement at the junction has disappeared. Reading the approach direction, road number and destination together can prevent a long and unnecessary detour.

AWV expects the ramp to reopen at 18:00 on Sunday 13 September, provided the asphalt work proceeds in suitable conditions. Until then, affected motorists should follow the marked route via exit 5, Gerard le Grellelaan, the R10 and N155, use the A12 where appropriate or switch to rail. The main remaining uncertainty is the weather: check AWV and the Vlaams Verkeerscentrum shortly before departure for any change to the schedule.