User:Bangiomorpha/R9 (Belgium)

The R9 or small ring of Charleroi is an expressway located in Charleroi, Belgium.

Designed by Jean Yernaux, author of an urban vision of Charleroi articulated around its infrastructure (R9 and metro), the ring road is a loop around the city center on a perimeter of 5.6 km.

It consists of three to six one-way traffic lanes all going in a counter-clockwise direction. Because of the topography of the city, it consists of a series of viaducts and tunnels designed to relieve congestion in the city center while preserving the major boulevards it crosses.

Several neighborhoods nevertheless suffered from its construction and were destroyed by the installation of pillars or the digging of hoppers: la Villette (southwest), Bosquetville (southeast) and Broucheterre (north). The latter two saw several of their streets wiped off the map. It was put into service in 1976.

Overall in poor condition, the ring road undergoes rehabilitation work between 2014 and 2020.

Like the A54 and the N5 towards Philippeville, it has the number E420.