Grand Traveaux Inutiles of the Benelux

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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.

In Belgium and Luxembourg

Not functioning or never completed

Rail infrastructure

The completely underground Centenaire metro station in Charleroi could be fuel for some peoples' nightmares.

The ghost stations on Antwerp's premetro network are somewhat discrete in their appearance. Shown here is where the entrance to Carnot should have gone.

• 1 Antwerp Premetro. About 2.3 kilometres (1.4 mi) of premetro tunnels have been constructed below Antwerp, yet have never been taken into use. The legend says that part of it was even considered for a mushroom farm at one point. Since the 1980s, 100 metres have been taken into usage for line  5  in 2006. The year before, 3.1 kilometres (1.9 mi) of the eastbound tunnel was taken into use with two former ghost stations (Zegel and Astrid) and one new station. As of 2022, there are seven ghost stations along the line, all in the eastbound tunnel, of which four are planned to be put into service in 2024, almost 50 years after they were constructed. (updated Mar 2022)
• Charleroi Premetro (Charleroi Métro Léger M5). If Antwerp gets a metro, so does a city in Wallonia. Charleroi therefore has had a very extensive plan for a metro network. Many of the proposed lines were never built, but one in particular was built but never taken into service, that line being the M5. While the line is currently seeing construction again in an effort to finally open the line in 2026, the route until then remains filled with ghost stations. (updated Mar 2022)
  • 2 Neuville - After crossing over the E420/N90, the planned M5 finds itself at Neuville, which, as an elevated station, looms over the surrounding townscape.
  • 3 Chet - Also an elevated station, breaking up the pattern of average townhouses along the Rue Chet, and looking like it survived a nuclear apocalypse.
  • 4 Pensée - Pensée is less of an eye soar, being constructed in a cutting, but still looking very much devoid of any usage.
  • 5 Centenaire - 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.
  • 6 Champeau - Features a fairly deserted-looking underpass which connects the Chau. de Châtelineau with the Rue du Pont.
  • 7 Léopold - 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:

• 8 Institut Notre Dame, Quai Arthur Rimbaud, next to Tirou  2  3  - 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
  • 9 Sainctelette metro station (Along lines  2   and  6   between Ribaucourt and IJzer.). Visible from the metro trains, this station was never taken into use because of the little distance between it and its neighbouring stations. Other stations' train indicators on line 2 have an indicator for Sainctelette, but do not have it labelled. (updated Mar 2022)
  • 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.
• 10 Liège Metro. Anyone faintly familiar with Liège will know that it does not have a metro. In reality, it does, but it was never completed. Below the city are 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) of tunnels underneath the Quai Saint-Léonard for the TAU (Transport Automatisé Urbain), which was intended to be an automated metro system, akin to the Docklands Light Rail in London. The prototype train for this line is the only accessible remnant of these plans, which can be found in the Public Transit Museum of Wallonia in Liège. (updated Mar 2022)

Road infrastructure

• 11 Road vehicle tunnel in Antwerp (Between Fr. Rooseveltplaats and Teniersplaats). Dug so deep that the necessary access ramps don't fit into the existing road plan, this tunnel has since been replaced, but is eternally buried below Antwerp. In 2019 a replacement was put into service which lies several tens of metres above the original. Part of this tunnel, however, has been repurposed as the underground parking lot for the Opera premetro station (which until 2019 was partially a ghost station itself (see #Rail infrastructure)). (updated Mar 2022)
• 12 R43 (Eeklo ringway). The N49 was to become a highway, which meant that Eeklo's road infrastructure needed to be adapted. The plan included a ringway, which was only taken into use for the single kilometre between the A11 highway and N9 road, leaving another 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) of completely unnecessary ringway, made of two lanes in either direction, which now services an industrial estate. The road has since been brought back to a single lane in either direction, but everything suggests that this road was meant to be so much more than it is now. (updated Mar 2022)
• 13 A19 near Ypres (Near Sint-Jan, by exit 5 of the A19). The entire highway is unfinished, initially meant to connect Kortrijk and Veurne, it ended short of its destination at Ypres. This meant that a full intersection was planned at Ypres instead of just a highway end. By this exit, you will find that part of the embankment for the highway, as well as a completely unused bridge are built for this highway that likely will never be connected. (updated Mar 2022)
• 14 Kleine Ringlaan, Kortrijk. Typically speaking, ringways circle an entire city, but in Kortrijk, it doesn't. Its ringway, the R8, ends when it crosses the railway to Ghent, and then starts again once it approaches the railway to Lichtervelde. The ringway was meant to be complete, but a lack of funds meant that today, there is a bridge with two lanes in either direction across the Leie, that is not connected to any other infrastructure. The R8 instead follows much smaller roads between exits five and seven with a large grassy verge between both directions of travel where the ringway was meant to go. (updated Mar 2022)
• 15 Bridgeheads near Autelbas-Barnich, A4/E25 (Between Aire de Hondelange and exit 33). The A28 that the bridge that these bridgeheads were built for meant to carry is in itself a project that never got off the ground: Today it's hardly 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) long and goes from the border with France near Aubange (near Longwy) to just north of Aubange. Nonetheless, a go-ahead was made with the viaduct that carried the A28 across the A4, which is what these bridge heads were meant to carry. (updated Mar 2022)
• 16 Thieu Bypass, N552 / Val Saint-Pierre, near Strépny-Bracquegnies. This four-lane road was meant to relieve the town centre of Thieu of high congestion by circling around the northern side of the town. (updated Mar 2022)
• 17 N36 in Harelbeke. Driving across this road where it connects the N43 and N50, it's quite obvious that the road is much smaller than it was planned to be. The bridge across the Leie is wide enough to carry two lanes in each direction, yet it carries only two: one in each direction. (updated Mar 2022)
• 18 N41. Intended as a connection between the A11 and E40 (Aalst) was never completed. The part connecting the A11 and E17 was never finished, the part between the E17 and Lebbeke is partially finished. The entire route was intended to have two lanes in either direction, but like the N36 in Harelbeke, it only has one lane in each direction. Six bridges along the route have been built to the larger specifications, and only half of them are in use. The only part of the route in use is the part between Dendermonde and Sint-Niklaas. Part of the route is prepared for construction to start, most notably to the south of Dendermonde, but it is unlikely that the road will ever be finished. (updated Mar 2022)
• 19 Abele Border Checkpoint (Along the D948). Opened on June 3rd, 1988, this border checkpoint between Belgium and France was in service for about four and a half years, after which the Schengen Agreement opened the borders between European member states. The 60 million Belgian Francs invested (roughly 1.5 million Euros) didn't add much in the long term. The checkpoint was officially closed in 1997, after which its sole purpose was to house asylum seekers and as a public toilet. By 2017 though, permission was granted for alternative uses of the border zone. (updated Apr 2022)
• 20 N60 south of Ronse. The N60 connects Ghent to Péruwelz. In Frasnes-lez-Anvaing, construction was started in 1984 on a new four lane highway which was to connect Ronse to the A8 much faster. Two years of work resulted in some 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) of road, was officially cancelled in 1989, leaving a bridge over a local road and a now-disused railway, as well as a lot of concrete that is slowly withering away. Plans to reuse this branch to the N60, however, are not existent. (updated Apr 2022)

Waterways and industry

The Ourthe Canal (pictured near Rivage) is not used for shipping, and in some places looks almost as if it were designed for whitewater kayaking or rafting.

• 21 Ypres-Komen canal. The intention behind this canal was to connect the IJzer to the Leie via Ypres. This required the construction of a canal tunnel near Hollebeke. Construction on this tunnel was started in 1864, but was suspended when the tunnel collapsed. From 1873 to 1886, construction was fully halted, but was then brought back to life, and a new tunnel was started near Hollebeke in 1889. It too collapsed in 1893. In 1910, the plan was brought forward to instead of digging a tunnel, to instead build two additional buildings and two additional locks in order to raise the water level by five metres. A steel bridge was also issued. In November of 1923, the mission is deemed a success. This project having been riddled with failures though, the steel bridge naturally collapsed within a year. The approaching First World War meant that all further plans were brought to a halt, this time to not be resurrected again. The only real use that the canal has had, was halting the German advance in May of 1940, when the concrete bedding of the canal functioned as a buffer, allowing the French and British soldiers to evacuate via Dunkirk. Today, large parts of the route can be cycled instead. (updated Mar 2022)
• Ourthe canal (Canal de l'Ourthe / Ourthekanaal). The canal was planned to be a link between the Meuse near Liège and the Moselle near Wasserbillig in Luxembourg. The canal, which was to become 261 kilometres (162 mi) long, had to overcome the drainage divide with a 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi)-long 22 Bernistap-Hoffelt canal tunnel. The work on this tunnel had just started and progressed roughly to the halfway mark, when Belgian and later Luxembourgian independence meant that the foremost fundraiser for the canal, the Dutch king William I, had no reason to work towards completing the project, and the tunnel and canal were therefore left as they were. Today, the canal isn't accessible to ships, and large parts have been blocked or left to nature. (updated Mar 2022)
• 23 Plan Incliné de Ronquières (Ronquières inclined plane). The Ronquières inclined plane is a funicular lift for boats, which was constructed in the 1960s and opened in 1968. It bypasses 14 locks on the Brussels-Charleroi Canal (which in the 19th century counted two additional locks). The 1,432 metres (4,698 ft) long lift ascends a height of 67.73 metres (222.2 ft), and consists of two caissons mounted on rails, which can be in movement independently of each other. Barges of up to 1350 tonnes can use the canal, which saw its heyday in 2006, when 5215 ships used the inclined plane (about 14 per day). More generally, the inclined plane opened just as the Wallonian coal mines started closing, which saw a lot of its projected traffic disappear. (updated Apr 2022)
• 24 L'ascenseur funiculaire de Strépy-Thieu (Strépy-Thieu boat lift), Le Rœulx. Located on a branch of the Canal du Centre (Central Canal), the Strépy-Thieu boat lift has a height difference of 73.15 metres (240.0 ft), which made it the largest of its kind until the completion of the Three Gorges Dam ship lift (China) in 2016. The lift was built during a modernisation programme, and replaced two locks and four 16 metres (52 ft) locks dating from between the late 1880s and late 1910s. The canal itself dates from 1879 and was capable of accommodating vessels of up to 300 tonnes. When the European standard for barge traffic was raised to 1350 tonnes in the 1960s, the canal needed to modernise, which is when this boat lift was drawn up. Construction commenced in 1982 and was complete by 2002, along with a €160 million price tag. While traffic on the canal did increase fourteenfold, the canal itself mostly saw coal transport before construction. By the time of completion, the mines had closed, and the main reason for upgrading the canal with it. Initially, it was deemed a colossal failure, though slowly but surely the lift is proving its usage for both goods traffic and recreational traffic. (updated Apr 2022)
• 25 Lavage du charbon Péronnes-les-Binche (Péronnes-les-Binche coal washing plant), Rue des Mineurs 25, Binche. Built with Marshall funding in 1954, the small town of Péronnes-les-Binche got itself a coal washing plant that could process some 3,000 tonnes (6,600,000 lb) of coal daily. After 15 years of operation, the nearby mines close, bringing a halt to the coal supply. The building was threatened with demolition in the 2000s, though in 2005 the Wallonian government comes with a €13 million investment to repurpose the building. The building was to house several federal services. Though the building has had a significant face-lift with the money, it to this day sits unused as tackling the interior of the building would cost an additional €30 million, and funding for it has not come around. (updated Apr 2022)

Seemingly useless

• 26 Cable-stayed bridge of Godsheide (Pont de Godsheide). Built to carry the N75, which to this day runs north of the Albertkanaal until it meets the N74 just north of Hasselt. The bridge is the longest cable-stayed bridge of Belgium, and carries just a local road. A change in mentality and law gave the municipality a veto right over construction of the N75, and blocked the reroute. Plans have been made to let a tram run along the half of the bridge that isn't used, but it hasn't come to anything yet. By the end of 2022, the bridge is repurposed to connect both nature and traffic across the Albertkanaal. (updated Mar 2022)
• 27 Doeldok, Blikken, Antwerp. Harbour on the left bank of the Scheldt, is a dock in the harbour of Antwerp designed to house ships of up to 150.000 tonnes, and measures in at 500 metres (1,600 ft) wide and 14.5 metres (48 ft) deep. The construction of this dock hinged on the construction of a new canal, which was to cross through the Drowned Land of Saeftinghe, which is Dutch territory. Eventually, Dutch support dried up, and the canal was never constructed, while the dock had already been constructed. Additionally, the dock was intended to be used for petrochemics, meaning that ships would be unloaded via pipelines. To refit the existing dock for different kinds of cargo was deemed as expensive as constructing a new one, hence a new dock took its place. The dock is in de facto usage for swimmers and fishers, but it can be said without doubt that the ship traffic that the dock was built for, never came. The northern half of the dock has been filled back in in 1999 when a dumping ground was needed for a new, more functional dock. Backfilling the canal has cost €58 million, on top of the estimated €2-7 billion for the original dock. (updated Mar 2022)
• 28 Bridge across the N42, Schipstraat, Sint-Lievens-Esse. A bridge over nothing for now. The bridge, constructed in 1995 was to cross the N42's new route, which saw a lot of protest and thus was put on the back-burner. The N42 still isn't built, but it looks like it will be constructed in the near future. (updated Mar 2022)
• 29 Tienen - Maastricht Expressway. This expressway was intended to connect Tienen with the Dutch Maastricht, but was never built. The only part that ever was built, was the N718 between Bernissembroek and Zepperen, both towns north and west of Sint-Truiden. The route, which was to follow a former railway for much of its route, totals a length of 3.2 kilometres (2.0 mi) and features a highly unnecessary connection to the Hasseltsesteenweg (N722) in Bernissembroek, with a partially used viaduct that only crosses the railway and the N722, which it also connects to before crossing the railway. (updated Mar 2022)

Made useful

• 30 Superhighway Brussels — Mechelen — Antwerp (A1 / E19 between exits 7 (Kontich) and Machelen interchange). Originally intended to be a superhighway connecting Brussels to Antwerp, with one intermediate stop in Mechelen, this highway was infamous for its 40 metres (130 ft) median. This superhighway was never built, but got redesignated for a high speed railway (Line 25N) which was opened in 2012. This railway line also took over a part of the Machelen interchange (R0 / A1), which is a four-way highway interchange that only connects in three of the four directions. The westbound connections were never taken in use as the highway heading west was to connect into the heart of Brussels, which ran into opposition. The high speed railway didn't make this connection more useful, but did give a west-bound traffic corridor at this location. Other parts of the superhighway were redesignated to house the 'Witte Kinderbos' (White Childrens' Forest), which is an in memoriam to children killed in traffic. This forest also holds the record of narrowest forest. (updated Apr 2022)
• Wastewater pipeline along the Albertkanaal. A five million Franc pipeline, intended as a safe deposit line for waste water from industrial companies along the Albert Canal, connecting to the river Scheldt. This pipeline was never taken in use and eventually refitted to transport potable water. (updated Apr 2022)
• 31 Oostend spuikom. A "spuikom" is a water basin in harbours, intended to fill up at high tide to empty again at low tide, which happens with a very strong current, which causes sediment in the downstream waterways to be flushed back into the sea. Oostend had its 80 hectares (0.31 sq mi)-large spuikom constructed in the 20th century. It was supposed to replace four different spuikommen which were constructed in Napoleonic times. When first tested in 1912, the flow of the new spuikom proved to be so violent that it would quickly eat away at the quays downstream. The infrastructure that made the basin function was destroyed at the end of the First World War, and in 1926 the decision was made to not rebuild this infrastructure. For several decades now, the body of water has been used for water sport. (updated Apr 2022)
• 32 Oostham Bridge, Aubruggestraat, Ham. Spanning the Albertkanaal, this bridge was constructed in 1977 to carry the N73 across the canal, but as the N73 never was elongated to connect here, the bridge was abandoned for a long time. In October of 2018, the N73 was finally constructed here, though not following the originally intended trajectory. (updated Apr 2022)
• 33 Nivelles-Baulers F1-circuit. Home to the Belgian Grand Prix in 1972 and 1974, the circuit in Nivelles (Nijvel) was built after Spa-Francorchamps was deemed too dangerous. Nivelles was to share the Grand Prix with Zolder; Nivelles during even years, Zolder on odd years. This system didn't last long though, as the Grand Prix of 1974 barely came together, and money for a 1976 Grand Prix in Nivelles simply wasn't available. The track would no longer receive any Grand Prix events after that, and lost its circuit license. In 1981 the track saw definite closure, as the decision was made to update Spa-Francorchamps instead (which saw the Grand Prix move away from Zolder in 1984 as well). In the modern-day, the track is being repurposed as an industrial estate, with some parts of the old track still visible. The lay-out of the industrial estate also follows old track alignment, mostly along the Avenue Robert Schuman and Avenue Jean Monnet. (updated Apr 2022)

In the Netherlands

Rail infrastructure

• Amsterdam has several rail projects that can be deemed a GTI:
  • 34 IJburg Metro. Below Amsterdam's central train station lies a metro tube for the IJburg metro line, which was instead built as a tram connection as fewer buildings got built at IJburg than originally intended. (updated Mar 2022)
  • 35 East-West Metro. Under Weesperplein metro station, there lies a pre-constructed tube in which a metro line connecting Gaasperplas in the south-east with Geuzenveld in the west. The line never came and eventually got cancelled. The tunnel is inaccessible to the public, and was first repurposed as an atomic bunker, being repurposed to house AMS-IX, the Netherlands' largest internet data centre, in 2006. (updated Mar 2022)
  • 36 Tramline through Haarlemmer Houttuinen. Between both directions of travel on the Haarlemmer Houttuinen, lies a bus lane with tram tracks. This was funded for in 1985, but since no-one could agree on how it was supposed to fit into the existing network, overhead wires were never installed, even if the rails were already embedded in the bus lane at this point. On either end, the rails end at a crossroads, and they are likely to be removed once the bus lane is due for repaving. (updated Mar 2022)
• 37 Rotterdam Lombardijen metro station. Located underneath the current train station is a metro station intended for connecting to Ridderkerk. As this line (like the IJburglijn in Amsterdam) was instead made a surface level tram line, the station lies there until it may one day be repurposed for something useful. The elevator shafts of the station give hints to a sub-surface level existing. (updated Mar 2022)
• 38 Maastricht-Vaals Tramway. Being used from 1925 to 1938, this tramline was only in service for thirteen years. Its short lifespan can be explained through the Wall Street Crash of 1929. Additionally, the rise of more modern vehicles like lorries meant that the tramline was deemed old-fashioned, even if it was brand new. This led to a debt of half a million guilders, which could never be paid back. The operator therefore reasonably decided to call it quits in 1938. (updated Mar 2022)
• 39 Lelystad Zuid station. Built in 1988, this station will not be opened before 2025. The station was intended to serve the suburbs of Lelystad. Lelystad, however, didn't grow half as fast as anticipated. New development came to the surroundings but came to a halt with the 2008 financial crisis. Stairs to access the station were removed in 2016, but the platforms and general structure is very much still standing. (updated Mar 2022)
• 40 Stadskanaal - Ter Apel Rijksgrens railway. Opened in May of 1924, this railway in Groningen was meant to connect with Germany, somewhere near Meppen. The plans weren't very concrete and only the Dutch portion was built, as a result of the Wall Street Crash and subsequent high inflation that plagued post-World War I Germany. The railway only made it as far as the Rijksgrens (National border) to the southeast of Ter Apel, to which it ran passenger trains up to 1926, ceasing all passenger transport in May of 1935, having been in service for eleven years and thirteen days. From 1941 to 1990 the railway was put back into (partial) service for goods traffic. Today, the half of the line nearest to Stadskanaal is a heritage railway (STAR), while the Ter Apel side has had its tracks lifted. The part between Ter Apel and the border is largely converted to cycling and/or walking paths. (updated Jul 2022)
• 41 Halte Heerenveen IJsstadion. Opened in June 1975, and closed for regular service just under two years later, this station near the Heerenveen Ice Arena Thialf, was subsequently only in use for special occasions. In other words, if major events were organised at Thialf, NS would have its trains stop there. That arrangement lasted until 2015, when the Royal Dutch Ice Skating Association (KNSB) and Thialf decided that the €10.000 per day cost wasn't worth the hassle. The station has since remained as-is, seeing no further updates or relevant maintenance. In 2023, the station re-entered relevancy when Arriva, which operates trains in the north of the country, made an open-access bid to run rains between Zwolle and Leeuwarden (competing with NS), which would call at Heerenveen IJsstadion. (updated Feb 2024)

Road infrastructure

• 42 Rijksweg 48 (A348, N48 and N348). This combination of motorways and provincial roads was once supposed to be a highway connecting Arnhem to Groningen. The Arnhem to Dieren section is the only part signposted as a motorway, although the northernmost end of the route is signposted as provincial road N48, yet is state-managed (as opposed to it being under provincial management like a standard provincial road would be). North of Hoogeveen, the route is instead part of the A28. There are some disjointed parts of the highway that are now signposted as a provincial highway, most notably the section between Zutphen and Brummen, which (partially) has a speed limit of 100 kilometres per hour (62 mph) instead of the usual 80 kilometres per hour (50 mph). Plans to complete this highway as a proper highway have been permanently cancelled in the 1980s, the A28 and A50 being deemed sufficient to connect Arnhem and Groningen. (updated Mar 2022)
• 43 Bathse Brug. Connecting the town of Bath to the other side of the Schelde-Rijnkanaal, the Bathse Brug was built in anticipation of a new to-be-constructed industrial estate. The bridge therefore got two lanes of travel in either direction. The industrial estate was quickly cancelled, but the bridge at that point was already built. When a parallel canal was constructed, a bridge extension was created, but narrower, fitting roughly three lanes in total, so it only needed relatively minor refurbishment once the original plans were brought back, which hasn't since happened. (updated Mar 2022)
• 44 Eekhoornburg Den Haag, Benoordenhoutseweg, Den Haag (Spanning over the N44/S101). Intended as a link for squirrels to get from the one side of the N44 to the other, the bridge, completed in 2012, was used a whole two times by squirrels during all of 2015 (a drop of an entire squirrel compared to the year prior). The bridge was seen as a complete waste of money during the first decade of its existence. However, use of the bridge is on a sharp incline. In 2021 some four thousand crossings were made by squirrels, thus making its status as a great useless work disputable. (updated Apr 2022)

Sluice in the Fossa Eugeniana at Rheinberg.

Waterways

• 45 Fossa Eugeniana (Rhine-Meuse Canal). Started in 1626, the Fossa Eugeniana is a canal connecting the Meuse at Venlo with the Rhine at Rheinberg in Germany. The canal was supposed to keep Spanish inland trade up during the Dutch Revolt, as the Dutch Republic had full control of the Scheldt delta, which had a serious impact on Spanish goods reaching the Spanish Netherlands. The original plan was to connect the harbours of Ostend and Dunkirk with the Rhine via the Meuse, but only the Rhine-Meuse connection had its construction started. The 50 kilometres (31 mi)-long canal was never finished, but remains visible in some parts of the landscape today. (updated Mar 2022)
• 46 Noordhollandsch Kanaal (North-Hollanic Canal). With the accessibility of Amsterdam via the South Sea (now IJsselmeer and Markermeer) decreasing during the 17th century, the IJ, the bay in which Amsterdam lies, got severely backed up. The wait for access to the port was so long, in fact, that the Dutch language to this day has a saying that was popularised as a result of this: "Voor Pampus liggen" (To be moored by Pampus), Pampus being an island fort before Amsterdam. After its brief stint with Napoleonic overlordship, the Netherlands found itself in financial ruin, which wasn't helped by the lack of easy access to its main port. This is why, in 1819, construction was started per royal decree on a canal that would connect Amsterdam and Den Helder. This canal, cutting straight through North-Holland, was completed in 1824, and is notable for its "vlotbruggen" - floating, retractable bridges. The canal had some issues though: Seafaring vessels had to be towed by horses because the canal was too bendy and narrow for any boat to use its sails. The journey through the canal therefore took significantly longer than necessary and intended. Seafaring vessels quickly figured out that it was cheaper to dock in Den Helder and to have its good transferred inland by smaller ships. The canal became completely useless once the Noordzeekanaal was taken in use, connecting Amsterdam to the North Sea via IJmuiden, which was a significantly quicker journey, with the canal being considerably more fit-for-purpose. (updated Mar 2022)

From above, it's easy to spot the Goudriaankanaal: From the centre-right bending towards the top of the image, it can be seen splitting Marken in two.

• 47 Goudriaankanaal. With the Noordhollandsch Kanaal being not that popular of a solution for Amsterdam's reachability from sea, construction instead was started on the Goudriaankanaal in 1826. It was supposed to connect the IJ to the South Sea via Marken. The mere fact that the Goudriaankanaal too is on this list, shows how successful it was. Financial blows kept hitting, and the Dutch government was throwing a fuss about the excessive costs as soon as construction started. The 150 metres (490 ft)-wide canal still can be distinguished on Marken and near Ransdorp. (updated Mar 2022)

The Houtribdijk off of the coast of Lelystad. The entire right half of the image was supposed to be reclaimed land.

• 48 The Markerwaard and Houtribdijk. The Dutch province of Flevoland is almost completely reclaimed from the sea, and it was intended to be significantly bigger than it is today. Its capital city of Lelystad was supposed to lie in the middle of the province's landmass, but looking at any map today, it's obvious that something ought to be missing. That missing piece is the "Markerwaard" or "Western Flevoland". Named for the island of Marken, the vast polder got cancelled after ecological impact of the other sea polders proved damaging to the old land. After the Noordoostpolder was constructed, northern Overijssel fared with a sinking ground water level, which worsened conditions for agriculture. The rest of Flevoland was adjusted to be an island, but this still caused the same problems. Financially, the project wasn't deemed as achievable either, meaning that the plan was ditched altogether.
  
  Today, the planned polder can be seen on Marken, which has some dikes to nowhere which were supposed to form the outlines of the new polder. There is also the Houtribdijk, connecting Lelystad and Enkhuizen across the former South Sea. (updated Mar 2022)
• 49 Punt van Reide Sluices. Still clearly visible on a map, but demolished since the early 1990s, is the network of aimless sluices at the Punt van Reide, some 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) east from Delfzijl. The sluices were supposed to connect to the Dollard Canal, which was supposed to make the far east of Groningen more accessible to larger ships, as the Dollard is an undeep and narrow bay. Due to environmental concerns and a lot of protest, the canal was never even begun on, aside from the Punt van Reide, where it was supposed to connect to the Eems. The sluice gates were later reused at Nieuwe Statenzijl, where the Westerwoldse Aa, which was supposed to connect to the canal, flows into the Dollard. (updated Mar 2022)

Buildings and industry

• 50 Kasteel Almere, Oude Waterlandseweg 29, Almere. A modern castle near Almere, modelled after Jemeppe Castle in Hargimont (Belgium). The construction started in September of 2000, but was stopped two years later. This left the castle in a half-constructed state, and efforts to continue building have been cancelled. Instead, the castle has been transformed into an artwork issued by the city of Almere as late as 2021. (updated Apr 2022)
• 51 Staatsmijn Beatrix (State Mine Beatrix). The fifth and last state mine of the Netherlands. Construction started in 1954, and was halted in 1962 at a depth of 710 metres (2,330 ft). The mine was surrounded on three sides with German territory, and the plans called for connecting the shafts to several older German mines. Ironically, getting permission for this was not what killed the mine - German permission was granted. It was instead the Dutch State Mines themselves, which gradually moved away from mining and focussed more on chemicals instead. During the 60s and 70s, all other mines were closed due to a lowering demand for coal, and opening the Beatrix-mine was not deemed necessary. The two shafts have since been capped with concrete domes, and the wider area is now a nature reserve. (updated Apr 2022)

Near the Benelux

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