User:Wauteurz/GTI

Grand traveaux inutiles (French for Great useless works) (Dutch: Grote nutteloze werken) are, as the name would suggest, large works, often with a large bill to match, which for any kind of reason never saw anything close to the returns intended for them. Be it because they were never taken in use, or a simple change of plans happened. The Benelux, especially Belgium is rather notable for these useless works.

Understand
Wastes of money are universal, but due to the way Belgian politics were ran for a long time, these seemingly useless projects are more common there than anywhere else. Up until the 1980s, it was standard for Belgians to divide public money between Flanders and Wallonia more or less 50/50. If Flanders got a million Francs, so did Wallonia. These so-called Waffle-iron politics led to money being thrown around a lot, which is seen as a cause for Belgium's high national debt (130% of GDP at its peak). After 1988, Flanders and Wallonia were put in charge of their own expenses, which helped against unnecessary spending. Waffle-iron politics, however, are still standard in some aspects of Belgian politics, such as the rail network, which is nationalised, though it has a 60/40 split between Flanders and Wallonia.

Rail infrastructure

 * - After crossing over the E420/N90, the planned M5 finds itself at Neuville, which, as an elevated station, looms over the surrounding townscape.
 * - Also an elevated station, breaking up the pattern of average townhouses along the Rue Chet, and looking like it survived a nuclear apocalypse.
 * - Pensée is less of an eye soar, being constructed in a cutting, but still looking very much devoid of any usage.
 * - Centenaire is completely located below ground level. The only part of it visible on the surface is the entry tunnel, located on the Avenue de Centaire where, near the Carrefour supermarket, there is a traffic island with partially new pavers and some iron trapdoors. Until the mid-2010s, this is where the entrance to the station was located, but it has since been demolished.
 * - Features a fairly deserted-looking underpass which connects the Chau. de Châtelineau with the Rue du Pont.
 * - After this station, the M5 dives into another tunnel which comes to a sudden stop several metres before meeting the R3 ring road. The station itself is easy to be overlooked, were it not for some random concrete prefab elements peering over a concrete wall with an iron door, which were to have formed the station's street connection.
 * Aside from the M5, there are more changes of plan visible within the city of Charleroi:
 * , Quai Arthur Rimbaud, next to Tirou - This building is pierced with a box in which the metro was planned to run. Plans were changed though, and the M2 and M3 lines now more sensibly follow the street layout instead of going straight through buildings.
 * Aside from the M5, there are more changes of plan visible within the city of Charleroi:
 * , Quai Arthur Rimbaud, next to Tirou - This building is pierced with a box in which the metro was planned to run. Plans were changed though, and the M2 and M3 lines now more sensibly follow the street layout instead of going straight through buildings.


 * Brussels Metro
 * The stations of Anneessens, Louiza and Kruidtuin have additional levels in prefabricated state which have never been taken into usage and are not accessible to the public.
 * The stations of Anneessens, Louiza and Kruidtuin have additional levels in prefabricated state which have never been taken into usage and are not accessible to the public.

Rail infrastructure

 * Amsterdam has several rail projects that can be deemed a GTI:

Road infrastructure




Near the Benelux

 * Le Blockhaus d'Eperlecques
 * La Coupole (Helfaut)
 * AVUS Südkurve (Berlin)