HW 10: Bicycle Highway

Kimberly Kuhn Introduction ● Bike highways are long-distance roads that allow cyclists to travel from one city to another without needing to stop frequently. ● Bike highways should also make cyclists feel safe in control of the highway. ● Bike highways should limit the amount of motor traffic that share the road with the highway

Overshire

Span 8: Old Rd

Span 7: Overshire to Spaanse Span 6: A20 Bridge to Spaanse Bridge

Span 5: Bridge over Schie-Schie Bridge Building Along a Canal

● A canal is an ideal place for a bike highway to be located. ● The surface along a canal is usually flat. ● Canals follow a straight path ● The canal also provides a route to connect towns and cities that designers can use when creating a bike highway. By designing along a canal, new paths do not have to be paved for a bike highway. ● Canal can be filled in and resized to create space for a road or bike path Stretch 5 - Footbridge over Schie-Schie Canal

● The bridge carries the bike highway across the Schie-Schie Canal. ● Creates quick access for cyclists across the canal. ● The pavement is black, not red. Only bikes will be using the bridge because you need to be on the bike highway to access the bridge, so the pavement color is not significant.

Kleinpoderplein ● In the past, cyclists wanting to cross the Schie-Schie Canal onto Delfshaven needed to cross at Kleinpolderplein (see map to left). New ● Connecting the canal was important enough for the Dutch Footbridge invested in an expensive drawbridge to provide cyclists access across the canal. The height of the drawbridge accommodates shipping boats while still being convenient for cyclists. Stretch 6: A20 to Spaanse Bridge ● Two lane cycle track ● Unlike the stretches before and after, this portion of the bike highway has a sidewalk. ● The bike highway intersects with bike paths and sidewalks (pictured to the right) to provide access to the bike highway for pedestrians and cyclists living in the residential areas adjacent to the bike highway and sidewalk. ● During residential development, green space was put in place to separate the canal and new homes. Thus, residential area was not a barrier for constructing the bike highway.

● Motorway A20 runs over the bike highway. By having the bike path use the underpass, the bike highway provides cyclists a safe route get from one side of the motorway to the other. ● Motorway A20 bridge was built intentionally above ground so that the bike highway would not have to intersect with the motorway. Stretch 7: A20 Motorway to

● Leading to the village of Overschie, the bike highway needed to be designed to slow down mopeds and respect the peace and space of residential homes of Old Delfswagen Rd ● Narrow bike path (6’ wide), probably due to environmental concerns ● Bike path is a shared use path for cyclists and pedestrians. However, there is little pedestrian traffic through this span. ● There is a speed bump leading into Old Delfswagen to slow down mopeds. Stretch 8: Old Delfshaven Rd ● The bike highway passes through an old residential area. Old, brick road was preserved for architectural beauty ● Cyclists do not bother residents, because they are quiet and slow. Mopeds were of concern because riders tend to drive fast. ● Speed bump put on road leading onto Old Delfshaven Rd to slow down mopeds. ● Observed that 10 cyclists drove through Old Delfshaven Rd over five minutes during rush hour time. ● This portion of road is not used for through motor traffic

● Residents took action to slow down mopeds by placing speed markings on garbage cans (see photo to left) ● Highway is 122” at this span, providing enough space for two-way cycle traffic and for residents to drive cars. Why Limiting Traffic is Important ● Limiting the number of cars allowed on the the bike highway allows cyclists to ride long distance at high speeds without worrying about colliding with cars. ● Cars and bikes only share the road on some spans of the bike highway where there is limited motor traffic. ● Limiting traffic is important to the villages along the bike highway, such as Overshire and Zweth. Bicycles are a quiet mode of transportation and do not disturb the communities. ○ Limiting traffic is important in villages because cars and bikes share the road in these areas. ○ Shared roads should limit through traffic. ○ It’s important to ensure methods to limit motor traffic only on the bike highway only to people who need to access homes and businesses in these areas. ● The Dutch confine yet facilite traffic from to by limiting car traffic. Cars are confined to two motorways where they Motorways for can travel between Delft and Rotterdam. Although cars are confined Cars to the motorways, motor vehicle traffic is still facilitated because car are allowed to travel at high speeds on these roads. ● There are no route for cars to easily access the road along canal from Rotterdam/Hague airport. This limits traffic on the bike highway, because cars coming from the Rotterdam/Hague airport will use one of the motorways instead. ● To connect Delft and Rotterdam, the bike highway runs along Bike existing roadways and canals. By running along existing roadways Highway and canals, the bicycle highway did not have to be constructed through rural land. Traffic Metering

● When there are many cars on Delftweg, traffic metering is used to control the frequency of cars entering the highway (see photo to right). Traffic meters only allow a few cars on to Delftweg at a time, limiting the cars on the road. ● Drivers are less likely to drive on Delftweg if they know metering will occur. ● The sign in the photo to the right tells cars that only one may pass one green. This limits the number of cars passing through the bike highway at a time. Summary ● For the bike highway to be realized, a path needed to be created that wouldn’t disturb residential areas and rural areas. ● For some sections along the path, the dyke had to be filled in to create space for a bicycle highway. ● Car traffic needed to be confined by providing accessible motorways and traffic metering at peak hours along the bike path. ● Alternative routes for cars needed to be available. ● Traffic metering needed to be in place to limit car traffic. ● The canal provided an ideal path for the bike highway to follow, because it set up a route that designers could use to connect Rotterdam and Delft