Copenhagen plans bike superhighways
by Agence France-Presse.
COPENHAGEN—Copenhagen, one of the world’s most bicycle-friendly cities, has begun
turning its extensive network of cycle paths into bike highways in an effort to
push more commuters to leave their cars at home.
Considered
one of Europe’s two “bicycle capitals” along with Amsterdam,
Copenhagen has more bicycles than people, and cycling is so popular that the
city’s numerous bike paths can become congested. Two-wheeler traffic jams are
especially regular on the main Noerrebrogade thoroughfare used by around 36,000
cyclists a day.
“You
have to elbow your way in to go forward and some cyclists aren’t always
thoughtful,” complains 22-year-old university student Lea Bresell.
The
creation of bike highways “comes right on time,” says Danish Cyclist
Federation spokesperson Frits Bredal. “Copenhagen’s roads are overloaded
with people who want to ride their bicycles in all kinds of weather,” he
says.
If
in the 1960s Danes viewed the car as the symbol of freedom, the bicycle has
assumed that role today, Bredal says. “It’s a mode of transportation used
by all social classes; even politicians ride
bikes,” he says.
It
is on crowded Noerrebrogade—the busiest bicycle street in Europe, according
to the cyclist association—that city planners have decided to build the
first of Copenhagen’s environmentally friendly boulevards.
The
jammed bike paths will be widened up to four yards on either side of the road,
which will itself will be reserved for buses only.
The
idea is to make Noerrebrogade “Europe’s great cycling street”, says
Andreas Roehl, the Copenhagen municipality’s bicycle program manager, also
known as “Mister Bike.”
But
Roehl is not content with making life easier for Copenhagen’s inner-city
cyclists: he wants to get suburbanites out of their cars and onto two wheels as
well. His goal is to hike the percentage of suburban commuters cycling to and
from the city from the 37 percent it is today to over 50 percent by 2015.
Within
the city, 55 percent of all commuters already travel by bike, according to the
municipality.
Copenhagen’s
bike highways of tomorrow will be dotted with pit stops where it will be
possible to pump up a tire, fix a chain, and have a drink of water, Roehl says.
And
synchronized traffic lights prioritizing bicycles over cars will bring riders
from the suburbs into Copenhagen “quickly and safely,” he says.
That
“could lead car-addicted suburbanites to take their bikes to go to Copenhagen,”
says cyclist Bresell. She believes bike highways will “make life even more
difficult for motorists and easier for cyclists.”
Already
Copenhagen stands out among other European capitals for its cycling
infrastructure, counting more than 242 miles of bike paths. Between 2006 and
2010, it spent $44 million on bike infrastructure, and $13 million more is
allotted for 2011.
The
first two city-to-suburb bicycle highways are due to open at the end of 2011
and reach a distance of nine miles from central Copenhagen, while a third,
going as far as 12 miles from the capital’s center, will be put into service in
2012.
While
celebrating the Danish capital’s efforts, Bredal of the cyclist association
says he hopes the rest of the Scandinavian country, which altogether has 5.5 million
inhabitants and around four million bikes, will soon “follow Copenhagen’s
example.”
Denmark’s
other main cities—Aarhus, Odense, and Aalborg—are already contemplating
similar bike highways, according to the head of the Copenhagen project, Maria
Helledi Streuli, who is eager to sing the plan’s praise.
“It’s
an initiative that is good for the environment, for health,” Streuli
enthuses, adding it also “makes it possible to unclog car traffic and to
breathe easier in the city.”
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