Metro 3: Redevelopment of Avenue Stalingrad

In order to build a new metro line and a metro station, the complete redevelopment of the Avenue Stalingrad is taking place. At the start of 2022, the City of Brussels submitted a planning permit for Avenue de Stalingrad between Place Rouppe and the inner ring road. As part of the metro 3 works, the boulevard will be completely redeveloped.

The works on the new metro line represent an ideal opportunity to put back the accent on the public space. The area of Avenue Stalingrad has a very special identity: many businesses with terraces, the dynamics around the Zuidpaleis, beautiful facades, and also many old and new residents. It’s a very broad platform, offering many possibilities for redevelopment but also a variety of needs from the local stakeholders need to be taken into account.

Ans Persoons, alderman for urban planning and public space in the City of Brussels believes that it is essential to create more space for pedestrians and cyclists. “Cyclists will get a separate bicycle path along both sides of the lane, and for pedestrians it is a kind of fast lane (for those who want to walk unhindered) and a wide sidewalk along the facades for those who want to flan earlier. Traffic is going to the middle of the road (1 lane) and is cut through at the height of the Zuidpaleis: it is no longer possible to drive the car from the Place Rouppe to the Midi/Zuid Station.”

Metro 3 will breath new life into the Stalingrad quarter. The avenue will be rebuilt with wide pavements, terraces, trees and separated bicycle lanes. This ambitious project is now in public investigation.

Pascal smet, Brussels state secretary for urbanism

This zone is also being laid on one level. Two double rows of trees are re-planted and strengthen the stability of the road (70 new trees; 34 plantans remained). Different zones come with a variety of shrubs & plants. One of the most distinctive buildings of the area is the Palais du Midi / Zuidpaleis. The plans include creating a front yard for this building, as well as a small square at the level of the future Toots Thielemans metro station.

“By installing a fountain and benches, we want to make the Zuidpaleis even more the beating heart of the neighbourhood. Also important, the Pasionaria, the monumental speech tube made by artist Emilio López-Menchero, returns to the Avenue Stalingrad, where this tribute to migrants belongs” concludes alderman Ans Persoons.

Source & photos: Ans Persoons facebook