E40 / A18 Westbound

E40 / A18 Mostly constructed in the 1980s, the E40 / A18 connects the Oostende area with the French border near Veurne. The road continues as an autoroute in France as the A16. It is now one of the major routes between Brussels and the English Channel Tunnel at Calais. Currently 2 lanes, the road is scheduled for widening to 3 lanes in each direction in the next few years.
Map showing the location of the E40 / A18 through Flanders (click the thumbnail for a larger image)
	E40 / A18 Westbound
	Flanders signs advance exits very well, with a large exit number. Sequentially numbered up to the French border, exit number 4 serves the beach town of Middlekerke.
	The other control point for the exit is Diksmuide, a large town known for it's "Flanders Nationalism". These signs tell drivers to continue straight ahead and take a future exit for Diksmuide's industrial area.
	Another white exit notification sign for junction number 4. As with almost every junction in Belgium, high mast light poles are liberally placed on the property.
	Diksmuide gets top billing at the actual exit location of this folded diamond interchange. While Middelkerke is named exclusively on the white exit signs.
	Continuing westward the A18 forms a bypass of the large town of Veurne. Exit 1A was added at a later date and the exit number was given a letter suffix to fit in with the sequential exit numbers.
	The auxilliary sign tells drivers to continue straight ahead to rail and rest stop services.
	In Flanders many large signs are posted on both sides of the road. The medium is normally too narrow to accomodate a large side so they are often placed at a slant.
	"De Kost" is prominently featured along the A18. These black and white tourist signs appear at almost every exit with the names of beach towns and the logo of the coastal tourist agency.
	Ieper (Ypres in French) is featured as a control point at exit 1A. Ieper is a large tourist area due to it's position as a WW1 battle site. Belgium places "Via" route designations next to secondary control points. For example here, De Panne can be reached via the N35.
	This sign appears just after exit 1A telling drivers that work done on this road through to the French border was financed by the EU. A rare and small reassurance shield is placed behind the guardrail. As with all A-roads in Belgium that are covered by an E-road, the A-road designation is ignored except on kilometer markers.
	Dunkerque in France is positioned prominently on this mileage sign, Adinkerke is the last exit in Belgium. This sign lists both the Flemish and French names for Dunkerque. Far northern France has many Flemish place names but almost no one there speaks it as a first language any longer.
	A vista of the town of Veurne is featured to the right hand side of the road. The tall building on the left is Veurne's famous town hall, which was built from 1596 to 1612.
	The A18 makes a graceful curve as it passes Veurne, the road this far west does not have high mast lightning in the median as do many autosnelwegen / motorways in the country.
	The last exit in Belgium serves the town of Adinkerke. Home to a large rail station and lots of cigarette shops. As the first town in Belgium, it's visited by many Brits stocking up on cheap smokes.
	Both control cities are now in France, as this is Belgium's last exit. Due to a lack of any customs or border security, there is no need for a sign stating as such.
	While not signed on standalone reassurance shields, the A18 is given extensive treatment on the kilometer markers. At each kilometer there is a low red and white sign with both the E-number and the A-number, as well as the number of kilometers to the end of the road.
	The N34 follows the Belgian coast and is a popular scenic tourist route, it ends at this exit. As usual, high mast lighting is present at this rural junction.
	Calais takes over from Dunkerque for the top spot on mileage signs, and an E40 reassurance sits very low to the ground beneath its priority road diamond.
	The A18 ends at this point, but the E40 continues to end in Calais. France begins where the pavement quality begins to deteriorate, and the high mast central lighting begins.
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