A6 motorway receives 700 new lanterns
The Luxembourg motorway A6 extends over a good 20 kilometers – better known as « Areler Autobunn » and all over its entire length as « Route du Soleil ». It is one of the most important traffic axes in the country and primarily forms the central connection to Belgium- both for the pendulum and transit traffic.
Now the A6 is equipped with a new, contemporary street lighting. A total of 700 lantern masts are replaced, re-wired and equipped with modern LED lights. The electromechanical systems are renewed taking into account current security and environmental standards.
Work extends over 100 work nights
The scope of services includes the complete dismantling of the existing infrastructure, the delivery and assembly of new light masts as well as the installation of energy-efficient tax and switching systems. The underground power lines are also replaced.
Still thousands of lantern masts along the highways
Work is only done at night – from Monday to Friday between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. The traffic should be maintained during the entire construction period. This emerges from the public tender.
The work takes place exclusively at night and when it comes to running. Photo: Gerry Huberty
The work is limited to exactly 100 working days: 95 of which are to take place in 2025, the remaining five in 2026. A concrete start of construction has not yet been determined, but according to the planning, the project should be completed at the beginning of 2026 at the latest. The aim of modernization is to increase energy efficiency and to sustainably improve security on the busy west-east connection.
Russia’s war of attack and the lamps of the A6
What looks like a marginal note is an integral part of the award procedure: Companies that apply for larger public orders-as in the case of A6 lighting-must assure them that they do not maintain inadmissible connections to Russia. This is a consequence of the EU sanction packages against Russia in the context of the war of aggression against Ukraine.
Specifically, this means that neither the company itself nor members of a consortium may be Russian or be resident in Russia. There must be no majority (over 50 percent) in Russian possession, do not act on behalf of Russian bodies and do not employ subcontractors or suppliers to which these criteria apply – unless their share in the project is less than ten percent of the order value.
Good to know
The A6 motorway runs over 20.791 kilometers – from the Belgian border near Kleinbettingen to the Gaspericher Kreu near the new water tower at the Cloche d’Or. The first section between the Cessinger Kreuz and Strassen was opened in 1976, followed in 1978 the connection to the Gaspericher Kreuz. In 1982 the route was completed to the border near Sterpenich, where the A6 merges into the Belgian E411.
Previously, the traffic was largely on National Road 6, which leads from the boulevard Royal in Luxembourg city to the border position in Steinfort-to a significantly shorter 17.7 kilometers. The « Areler Strooss » was expanded from 1843 by order of governor Théodore de la Fontaine and once connected Brussels with Trier.
