Belgium’s Longest Tunnel Could be Renamed After Wangari Maathai

Leopold II, Belgium’s longest tunnel could soon be renamed after Kenyan environmentalist the late Prof. Wangari Maathai.

Maathai, a Nobel Prize winner, is among 15 female nominees from whom the people of Belgium capital, Brussels have been asked to choose for the new name of the tunnel.

10 of the candidates were picked by the committee of experts and five by the people of Brussels.

They include Maathai, Andrée De Jong, Chantal Akerman, Isala Van Dies, Marguerite Yourcenar, Marie Curie, Rosa Parks, Semira Adamou.

Others are Simone Veil, Sophie Kanza, Marie Popelin, Annie Cordy, Astrid of Belgium, Elisabeth of Belgium, and Antoinette Spaak.

Voting will take place during the entire month of February beginning this Monday, according to a press release by Brussels Mobility.

The renaming procedure “to symbolically reinforce the place of women in the public space” started last year with a call for ideas to citizens and the reflection of a committee of experts.

At the moment, 43 percent of the streets in Brussels bear the name of a person but only 6.1% of the paths are named after a woman.

The people of Brussels will choose their preferred candidate via Brussels Mobility’s website, where information on each candidate is available.

The official name change will take place at the end of the rehabilitation of the tunnel.