It's a slow news day, local biking-wise. Here's some news from abroad.
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 metres (yards) on either side of the road, which will itself will be reserved for buses only.
Copenhagen's bike highways of tomorrow will be dotted with pit stops where it will be possible to pump up tyres, fix a chain and have a drink of water, Roehl says.
And synchronised traffic lights prioritising bicycles over cars will bring riders from the suburbs into Copenhagen "quickly and safely," he says.
Lon Anderson would absolutely lose it if this happened here.
The first two city-to-suburb bicycle highways are due to open at the end of 2011 and reach a distance of 15 kilometres from central Copenhagen, while a third, going as far as 20 kilometres from the capital's centre, will be put into service in 2012.
If we were building two bicycle highways into DC, I might go with Piney Branch/13th and Mass Avenue. Third, Wilson Blvd with improve TR Bridge crossings.
Wow. This puts the lie to the belief that bikes will never be a feasible means of transport in a modern, wealthy societty. Its also worth noting that this didnt just happen: Copenhagen made the investment, and the bikers followed.
Posted by: SJE | November 29, 2010 at 09:44 AM
@SJE
Similar situation in Minneapolis, which has had a bicycle highway (arguably the first in the US) for close to 20 years now.
Posted by: Froggie | November 29, 2010 at 02:29 PM
How exactly are the custis trail, CCT and mt. vernon NOT bike highways already -- with the big caveat that egress onto them is not perfect?
Posted by: charlie | November 29, 2010 at 10:51 PM
The Copenhagen routes are much wider. I'd love it if the MVT and other D.C.-area trails were widened to 12-foot single-direction paths.
I don't enjoy riding or running on MVT during "rush hour". Too many people trying to pass at high speed while there is oncoming bike/pedestrian traffic in the other lane. Separated single-direction lanes would be so nice. But I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon.
Posted by: Michael H. | November 30, 2010 at 02:08 AM
The trails are only incidentally connected to major infrastructure, which is usually what you have in a highway. So, the CCT is a nice ride, and does connect Georgetown and Bethesda, but goes out the way from most of the population, and doesnt connect all the way to Silver Spring. If you were making a bike highway, you would want to have something that roughly parallels the major arterial roads.
Posted by: SJE | November 30, 2010 at 08:07 PM
And if the CCT, etc are bike highways, they're one lane highways.
Posted by: washcycle | November 30, 2010 at 09:31 PM