Greater Ring, Brussels

The Greater Ring or Intermediate Ring (French: Moyenne Ceinture; Dutch: Middenring) is a series of roadways in Brussels, Belgium, intermediate between the Small Ring and the main Brussels Ring motorway. Most of this set of roads is numbered R21 and is about 30 km (19 mi) long, compared to 8 km (5.0 mi) for the Small Ring and 80 km (50 mi) for the main Ring.

This road crosses two motorways (A12 and E40-east) and offers a connection to the A10/E40-west at Basilique/Basiliek via the Avenue Charles Quint/Keizer Karellaan, to the A12 at Gros Tilleul/Dikke Linde, to the E19-north and N22/A201 at Leopold III via the Boulevard Léopold III/Leopold III-laan, to the A3/E40-east at Reyers, to the E411 at Arsena(a)l via the Boulevard du Triomphe/Triomflaan and to the E19-south at Paepsem via the Boulevard Industriel/Industrielaan.

The road passes through tunnels (Boileau tunnel, Montgomery tunnel, Georges Henri tunnel), on bridges and viaducts (e.g. Diamant viaduct, Teichmann bridge and Van Praet bridge) and under bridges and viaducts (e.g. Luttre bridge). Among those bridges, seven cross railroads and two cross the Brussels–Scheldt Maritime Canal. Tunnels and the Diamant viaduct are used to avoid crossroads. The Greater Ring runs along many parks: the Royal Domain, Josaphat Park, Forest/Vorst Park, Astrid Park, Scheutbos Park, Elisabeth Park, and Laeken/Laken Park. It also crosses the Bois de la Cambre/Ter Kamerenbos.

The road goes through 14 municipalities out of the 19 that make up the Brussels-Capital Region: the City of Brussels, Schaerbeek, Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, Etterbeek, Ixelles, Uccle, Forest, Saint-Gilles (clockwise only), Anderlecht, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, Koekelberg, Ganshoren, and Jette.