Traffic is moving in both directions on the Westmoor bypass again after 14 months of reconstruction, ending a long period of single-lane running and detours that drivers in the Valley Region had come to dread.
The last barriers came down shortly after 5 a.m. on Monday. By the morning rush hour, the 11-kilometer road was carrying cars and trucks at full speed, and the queues that used to stretch back into Westmoor’s town center were gone.
The transport ministry says the reopening cuts the typical peak-time journey around the town from 25 minutes to under ten. Around 32,000 vehicles use the bypass on an average weekday, about a fifth of them trucks heading to and from Northvale’s industrial zone.
Late and over budget
The works began after inspectors found serious cracking in the road surface and drainage faults that had caused repeated flooding on the lower section near the river crossing. The original plan foresaw ten months of work and a budget of 41 million euros.
According to ministry figures, the final bill stands at 47.5 million euros. Officials blame the overrun on a wet spring, which halted asphalt work for almost seven weeks, and on higher prices for steel and concrete.
The road you drive on today is effectively new: new drainage, new surface, new barriers and new lighting at both junctions.
Hendrik Albers, project director at the transport ministry
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