Kennedy Tunnel

The Kennedy Tunnel is an important road, rail and bicycle tunnel to the south of Antwerp under the Schelde. The road tunnel forms a part of Highway R1, the not yet completed inner ring motorway surrounding the city. Opened to road traffic on 31 May 1969, and to rail traffic on 1 February 1970, the tunnel was named after John F. Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States.

In effect, the Kennedy Tunnel consists of four parallel tunnels. Two road tunnels, 14.25 m wide, each sufficient for three lanes of traffic, run on either side of a 4 m wide bicycle tunnel. Fifteen meters below sea level there is a rail tunnel 10.5 m wide.

The road tunnel was the scene of a particularly severe fatal traffic accident in October 2006, since when traffic speed during working hours has been restricted to 70 km/h, rather than to the higher 100 km/h limit applicable on the rest of the Antwerp Inner Ring Road.