Delft-Rotterdam Bicycle Highway BY LEAH GRODSTEIN An Introduction The Delft-Rotterdam bicycle highway route Bike highways should: Be designed for bikes – the car is the guest Provide a direct route between Zweth distant locations – no detours! Provide a smooth and comfortable riding experience Connect to the bike network at the ends Overschie The bike highway runs alongside a shipping canal, meaning: There must be bridges across the canal to get cars over Focus area Therefore, intersections have car traffic over the bike highway instead of on the same level. Bikes don’t have to stop for cars! Stretch 5 – Footbridge over Schie-Schie Canal
Mechanism to let large ships through
Challenge: Bikes need to cross a perpendicular shipping canal without impeding large ships on that canal Solution: Build a bridge for the Schie-Schie Canal bikes that can move to allow ships through
Bike highway over bridge Stretch 6 – A20 to Spaanse Bridge Challenges: Intersect the bike highway and the A20 (car highway) without disrupting the flow of bike traffic Keep the bike highway connected to residential areas while separating it from the A20 bridge roads Solutions: The bike highway goes under the bridge that the A20 is on, making a grade-separated intersection Where the people are Make many offshoot bike lanes walking is a bike path from the bike highway to Bikes go leading to the area by the residential areas through here road Stretch 7 – Spaanse Bridge to Overschie
Challenge: Transition to the smaller village Lampposts of Overschie Slight hill (more Solutions: extreme in Cycle track (two-way) narrows to other places) approximately 6’, slowing down bike traffic as they near Overschie Cycle track located on a hill with plants on both sides and lampposts on one side, discouraging children from playing there and Trees block protecting the privacy of residents residential buildings from view Narrow path, ~6’ Stretch 8 – Old Delftschaven Road, Overschie Challenge: Residents originally did not want a bike highway through their quiet village Signage because of speed and noise concerns (mostly from mopeds) Residents often cross the street to sit or play by the canal, so they can’t just stay on the sidewalk to avoid fast traffic Sign on Solution: slow down all traffic trash can Narrow, brick roads (was red 106”, red asphalt before) brick Speed hump upon entry Signage indicating a 15 km/h road (residents also put on their trash cans) Speed hump Limiting traffic Why it’s important:
On the bike highway, car traffic should be light or non-existent so bikes do not feel threatened
For villages along the route, car traffic causes noise and can lead to discontent with the route being in the village
Separated traffic makes a safer route for cyclists Confine yet facilitate approach
Separate modes of To Delft by transportation and give them To Delft on car on A13 priority in their own space the bike Through traffic gets restricted to highway highways, where it won’t affect bikes Example: Rotterdam/The Hague Airport exit The car highway goes over the Popular exit bike highway instead of directly Highway connecting to it doesn’t for car traffic Cars must use A13 to get to connect to Delft (and farther cities), while canal road bikes have a direct route on the canal road Land development Development is limited by zoning laws in the rural areas between cities This limits the places car traffic will be coming from, as the highways need fewer exits Allows for more stretches of the bike highway to be Rural areas free or almost free of intersections Highlight shows bike highway in between areas that must stay rural
Development in cities only Traffic Peak-period traffic metering Controlling the flow of traffic during peak hours Example: Rotterdamseweg Cars want to use Rotterdamseweg as a cut- through road when the A13 is backed up, since it runs parallel But this road is part of the bike highway, so this signal turns on when the A13 is backed up to discourage cars from coming en masse onto the bike highway Rotterdamseweg A signal letting one car signal, not in use through at a time on Kandelaarweg Summary The bike highway had to overcome many different challenges to be realized: Physical Water Historical sites Villages already in place Political Residents Companies But these challenges were overcome, and the Rotterdam-Delft bike highway serves its purpose of providing a low-stress, direct route for cyclists between the two cities