BICYCLE HIGHWAY – ROTTERDAM TO DELFT By Prasad Chame Bicycle Highway - Requirements

■ A bicycle highway should provide an uninterrupted and continuous travelling route for the bicyclists. ■ It should have minimum crossings at intersections with major roads. ■ Ideally, it should be separated from motor traffic and shouldn’t allow motor traffic onto it where possible. ■ It should pass through green and well lighted areas to make riding pleasant, safe and convenient.

A bike highway IDEAL ROUTE - ALONG A SHIPPING CANAL

■ The canal has bridges for motor traffic to cross over, making the intersections grade separated. Thus, the bike travel is uninterrupted and safe as bicyclists aren’t exposed to motor traffic, trains/trams at intersections. ■ Shipping canals connect cities so a routing along an existing canal is easier just following the canal and also provides a straight and direct route for bicycling. ■ Having a bike highway next to a canal adds to the aesthetic appeal and makes riding more pleasant. ■ Makes biking less stressful as there is no motor traffic (just water) on one side. A bike highway along the canal passing under an existing bridge OVERVIEW AND ROUTE MAP

■ Connects the cities of Rotterdam and Delft. ■ Passes through the villages of Overschie and Zweth. ■ Route along the canals Delfshavense Schie and Delftse Schie. Zweth ■ Approxmiate length – 10.1 km / 6.3 miles

Overschie SECTIONS ASSIGNED

▪ Section 1 – Rochussenstraat ▪ Section 2 – Albraechtskade ▪ Section 3 – Abraham van Stolkweg ▪ Section 4 - Penitentiary path

4. Penitentiary path

3. Abraham van Stolkweg 2. Albraechtskade

1.Rochussenstraat SECTION 1 - ROCHUSSENSTRAAT

■ The starting point of the bicycle highway located right in the city. ■ Challenge – Removal of trees next to the canalside walking area to put in the bike highway. ■ As arborists said the trees were about to die in a short time, the city made a plan to remove trees plant new trees to the side making space for the bike highway, but there was strong opposition from environmentalists. ■ The city officials didn’t wanted to be blamed for tree cutting and the construction was shelved until eventually some trees died and protestors were convinced to replace the trees. Picture of the bike highway through the section, Rochussenstraat SECTION 2 – ALBRAECHTSKADE

■ Challenge – Removal of the car parking on the canalside. ■ The whole area on the canalside was used for car parking and there were no bike paths but narrow 3 ft bike lanes on both sides of Albraechtskade. ■ The city had to convince the residents for the removal of the parking. Apparently 100s of parking spaces were removed and the parking was converted into a bike path for the highway. ■ Narrow lane on the building side can be seen even today. Picture of the bike highway through the section, Albraechtskade SECTION 2 – ALBRAECHTSKADE

Narrow 3 ft bike lane on the building side of Albraechtskade (probably the narrowest bike lane in the world !) SECTION 3 – ABRAHAM VAN STOLKWEG

■ Challenge – Bike highway crossing with a main road Beukelsbrug and railway tracks. ■ Along Abraham van Stolkweg the bike highway had to cross a road Beukelsbrug which has 2 lanes in each direction and 4 railway tracks which went across the canal. ■ At grade intersections would have introduced a big delay for the bicycles and wouldn’t have been safe for the bicyclists. ■ As the bike highway was constructed right next to the canal, it had the advantage of going under the bridges which already existed at these crossings. This provides uninterrupted and safe travel for the bicycles. Picture of the bike highway going under Beukelsbrug in the section, Abraham van Stolkweg SECTION 3 – ABRAHAM VAN STOLKWEG

Picture of the bike highway going under the rail tracks in the section, Abraham van Stolkweg SECTION 4 – PENITENTIARY PATH

■ Challenge – Resistance of the penitentiary to a bike highway going right next to it. ■ The penitentiary opposed to the bike highway Penitentiary going between the canal the penitentiary’s premises. Letting a bicycle path/highway pass right next to it would allow people to access/get into the premises from the side was their argument. ■ The city had to convince the penitentiary Barb wired authority to let the bicycle highway go right next fencing to it and proposed a barb wired fencing to be built between the penitentiary and the bicycle highway to prevent people from entering the premises. Bike highway Picture of the bike highway going alongside the Penitentiary with the fencing provided in between TRAFFIC LIMITING

■ Traffic limiting is not applicable up to the section 4 of the bike highway as in the sections up to section 4, the bike highway is totally separated from the motorized traffic. ■ Limiting the traffic is very important for the bike highway as riding along frequent vehicles passing by is not safe and makes the bicyclists uncomfortable, adding to the bicycling stress. An ideal bike highway shouldn’t have any motor traffic on it. ■ Limiting motor traffic is important for villages like Zweth and Overschie along the route because there are houses right next to the roads and motor traffic would endanger the residents and kids. The noise and pollution caused by the motor traffic, and over speeding are also the reasons why it should be limited in the villages. TRAFFIC LIMITING

■ The Dutch use the ‘confine yet facilitate’ approach by limiting the routes for motor traffic and providing alternate routes for the motorized vehicles so as to keep bikes and the motor vehicles separate. ■ On sections where motor traffic has access along with the bikes, the bikes are given the priority. Narrower lanes and speed control measures are used to facilitate car usage where residents need car access to their homes. ■ By not providing a connection between the road from Rotterdam/Hague airport and the canal road Delftweg going towards Delft, considerable traffic is kept out from using the road along the bike highway. ■ By forbidding the development in the rural areas, the motor traffic is kept out. As development would attract more urban people which would eventually lead to increase traffic. TRAFFIC LIMITING - TRAFFIC METERS

■ Another tool to keep the car traffic limited on certain routes. ■ The traffic meter counts the number of cars going through. During the peak hours, when there’s traffic congestion on the highway, the light of the traffic meter turns red, stopping the cars and allowing only one car to enter every 30 sec. ■ Bollards are raised to prevent the Raiseable Traffic light cars from entering the road section. bollards controlling the The bollards go down when the traffic motor traffic subsides. ■ This discourages the car drivers that want to use such alternative roads in times of congestion during peak hours as to get through, the cars would have to wait here too. Traffic meter on Delftweg SUMMARY

■ A two way cycle track was provided for most section of the bike highway by removing parking, replacing trees. Major portion of the bike highway is a two way cycle track separated from the motor traffic. ■ The route was well planned along the canal so that the bicycles could safely pass under the existing bridges, minimizing the interaction with motor traffic and trains/trams. Where the bike highway met with roads at intersections, yield signs giving priority to bikes or bike signals were provided to add safety to bicycling. ■ For sections where bike highway had to go through mixed traffic, advisory bike lanes were provided. ■ For the sections going through Zweth and Overschie the speed of the motor traffic was limited by using speed limit signs, speed humps, sleeping bicyclists. ■ Traffic metering used on the roads like Delftweg to limit the motor traffic. Alternate routes were provided for motor traffic. ■ Development of the areas between the cities was forbidden to keep out the motor traffic along the bike highway.