The organisers of Rock Werchter 2012 counted more visitors than ever (139 000 individual persons). But this didn’t seem to have much influence on traffic : there were literally no traffic jams on the road to the festival. The same for Werchter Boutique and TW Classic. Conclusion: the absence of traffic problems in 2011 was no coincidence. After the mobility audit Traject did in 2010, we have been commissioned by the organisers to work out and implement a new mobility plan for 2011. Our contribution was mainly in the field of traffic management, and more precisely the geographical distribution of traffic. This was obtained mainly through a detailed signposting plan, promoting routes that were underused in the previous years. A lot of attention was given to readability and continuity of the signposting, both for arrivals and departures. But the crucial element of this approach was dynamic signposting on the motorways. This allowed us to lead traffic to alternative roads when other routes threatened to become congested. Which succeeded, two years in a row!
But apart from the management of car traffic, let’s not forget the growing contribution of modal shift to the fluidity of traffic to Werchter. In that field also, records have been broken in 2012. With 60 articulated buses, the public transport company De Lijn has transported 4000 people more from Leuven to Werchter in comparison with 2011. The bike has also contributed to the reduction of car traffic, more than before : the 6500 guarded quality bike parkings where not sufficient for the exceptional quantity of cyclists among the visitors.