Blankenberge, Belgium - Municipality of Blankenberge
What / where is the pilot?
Blankenberge is situated at the Belgian coast between Ostend and Knokke. The town has about 20.000 inhabitants year round and many more in the summer months. The site of the pilot consists of a part of the dunes between Blankenberge and Zeebrugge and also the road adjacent to these dunes.
Why is the pilot needed and what are the benefits?
In the “Masterplan for Coastal Safety” a number of measures to upgrade the safety level to a 1000 year storm surge have been proposed. The nourishing of the beaches in Blankenberge is one of those measures. In the pilot area the dunes will be expanded in an inland direction which will further upgrade the safety level. The pilot concerns the breaking out of the road surface of a part of the road, closest to the dunes. This part contains a sidewalk, a bike lane, a parking lane, the actual road and another parking lane over a total width of 11 meters. After this part is broken up a new bike lane (width : 4 meters) will be realised. The rest of the area will be “given back to nature”. So that the already existing dunes will be able to expand over the broken up part of the road. As such an extra nature based solution, regarding coastal defence, will be created.
How is the pilot using Nature-based solutions?
Blankenberge will remove (part of) a road that runs parallel to the dune. This will allow the dune system to grow inland, rather than towards the sea.