Biking a Dutch Cycle Superhighway
It’s no secret that the Dutch have the best bicycle infrastructure on Earth. And it keeps getting better.
While attending the Velo-city 2017 conference in the Netherlands, I got to ride the Arnhem-Nijmegen Cycle Superhighway. Imagine being able to bike 11 miles between two downtowns and not have to stop once for cars — that is what the superhighway provides.
The Arnhem-Nijmegen route is one of a few cycle superhighways in the region. I brought my camera along on one group ride and got to chat with Sjors van Duren, the program director for Velo-city 2017, about what makes it attractive compared to car travel.
Interestingly, there was already a bike route between the cities of Arnhem and Nijmegen when the cycle superhighway was built. It’s perfectly safe and usable — a stellar piece of infrastructure that I would welcome with open arms here in NYC. But it has several junctions where you need to come to a full stop. That’s where the cycle superhighway comes in.
So watch this Streetfilm and get the tour. By the time it’s over you’ll want a cycle superhighway for your hometown.
Streetsblog has migrated to a new comment system. New commenters can register directly in the comments section of any article. Returning commenters: your previous comments and display name have been preserved, but you'll need to reclaim your account by clicking "Forgot your password?" on the sign-in form, entering your email, and following the verification link to set a new password — this is required because passwords could not be carried over during the migration. For questions, contact tips@streetsblog.org.