N5 road (Belgium)

N5 sign post

The N5 is a road in Belgium connecting the small ring in Brussels and Philippeville via Charleroi (commonly named French: Route de Philippeville till the ring of Charleroi).

This road could be one of the deadliest of the country. This is not only due to the traffic density and the old fashioned road safety features, but also because many country roads are joining onto a high speed lane, namely the tractors harvesting sugar beet.

It has also been part of the history of Belgium in the Battle of Waterloo, during which the Imperial French Army went through this path to join the battlefield of Quatre-Bras/Ligny[1]

The N5 crosses or borders 17 municipalities in total. 4 municipalities are located in the Brussels Capital Region, 1 in Flemish Brabant, 5 in Walloon Brabant, 4 in Hainaut and 3 in Namur. Full municipality list below,[2] main municipalities are in bold.

Region Province Municipality Population Length of N5 (km)
 Brussels Capital Region / City of Brussels 188737 1.0
Saint-Gilles 48837 1.5
Ixelles 87052 1.1
Uccle 85099 6.2
 Flanders  Flemish Brabant Sint-Genesius-Rode 18628 3.5
 Wallonia  Walloon Brabant Waterloo 30356 6.2
Braine-l'Alleud 40346 0.3
Lasne 14299 3.3
Genappe 15611 12.1
Villers-la-Ville 10970 0.1
 Hainaut Les Bons Villers 9510 7.1
Charleroi 202421 13.4
Gerpinnes 12771 5.8
Ham-sur-Heure-Nalinnes 13725 1.9
 Namur Walcourt 18429 12.0
Philippeville 9243 12.9
Couvin 13871 20.6
  1. ^ For a detailed count of wounded persons using this road, see orders of battle from Quatre-Bras, Ligny, Order of Battle of the Waterloo Campaign, and statistics related to road safety from IBSR [1].
  2. ^ "Belgium: Regions, Provinces, Arrondissements, Cities, Municipalities, Sub-Municipalities, Agglomerations, Sectors - Population Statistics in Maps and Charts". www.citypopulation.de. Retrieved 2023-04-12.