Yahoo – AFP, Pauline Houede, December 29, 2015
Berlin (AFP) - It's every cyclist's dream: no red lights, no trucks, just a clear, smooth lane to zoom down with the wind in your face. Welcome to Germany's first bicycle Autobahn.
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| Fans hail the smooth new velo routes as the answer to urban traffic jams and air pollution, and a way to safely get nine-to-fivers outdoors (AFP Photo/Patrik Stollarz) |
Berlin (AFP) - It's every cyclist's dream: no red lights, no trucks, just a clear, smooth lane to zoom down with the wind in your face. Welcome to Germany's first bicycle Autobahn.
Fans hail
the smooth new velo routes as the answer to urban traffic jams and air
pollution, and a way to safely get nine-to-fivers outdoors.
As a
glimpse of a greener urban transport future, Germany has just opened the first
five-kilometre (three-mile) stretch of a bicycle highway that is set to span
over 100 kilometres.
It will
connect 10 western cities including Duisburg, Bochum and Hamm and four
universities, running largely along disused railroad tracks in the crumbling
Ruhr industrial region.
Almost two
million people live within two kilometres of the route and will be able to use
sections for their daily commutes, said Martin Toennes of regional development
group RVR.
 |
A cyclist
enjoys the first five-kilometre (three-mile) stretch of a bicycle highway
in
Mulheim an der Ruhr, which will connect 10 western cities including Duisburg,
Bochum and Hamm and four universities (AFP Photo/Patrik Stollarz)
|
Aided by
booming demand for electric bikes, which take the sting out of uphill sections,
the new track should take 50,000 cars off the roads every day, an RVR study
predicts.
The idea,
pioneered in the Netherlands and Denmark, is gaining traction elsewhere in
Germany too.
The banking
centre of Frankfurt is planning a 30-kilometre path south to Darmstadt, the
Bavarian capital of Munich is plotting a 15-kilometre route into its northern
suburbs, and Nuremberg has launched a feasibility study into a track linking it
with four cities.
In the
capital Berlin, the city administration in early December gave the green light
to a feasibility study on connecting the city centre with the leafy
southwestern suburb of Zehlendorf.
Rapid
track
The new
velo routes are a luxury upgrade from the ageing single-lane bike paths common
in many German cities, where tree roots below can create irregular speed bumps
and a mellow cycling lane can suddenly end or, more alarmingly, merge into a
bus lane.
The new type of bike routes are around four metres (13 feet) wide, have overtaking lanes and usually cross roads via overpasses and underpasses. The paths are lit and cleared of snow in winter.
 |
The new
velo routes are a luxury upgrade from the ageing single-lane bike
paths common
in many German cities (AFP Photo/Patrik Stollarz)
|
The new type of bike routes are around four metres (13 feet) wide, have overtaking lanes and usually cross roads via overpasses and underpasses. The paths are lit and cleared of snow in winter.
Like most
infrastructure projects, the bicycle Autobahn is facing headwinds, however,
especially when it comes to financing.
In Germany,
the situation is complicated because while the federal government generally
builds and maintains motor-, rail- and waterways, cycling infrastructure is the
responsibility of local authorities.
For the
Ruhr region's initial five-kilometre rapid track, the cost was shared, with the
European Union funding half, North Rhine-Westphalia state coughing up 30
percent, and the RVR investing 20 percent.
Toennes
said talks are ongoing to rustle up 180 million euros ($196 million) for the
entire 100-kilometre route, with the state government, run by centre-left
Social Democrats and the Greens party, planning legislation to take the burden
off municipalities.
"Without (state) support, the project would have no chance," said Toennes, pointing to the financial difficulties many local governments would have in paying for maintenance, lighting and snow clearance.
 |
The German
Bicycle Club ADFC argues that, since about 10 percent of trips in
the country
are now done by bicycle, cycling infrastructure should get at least
10 percent
of federal transport funding (AFP Photo/Patrik Stollarz)
|
"Without (state) support, the project would have no chance," said Toennes, pointing to the financial difficulties many local governments would have in paying for maintenance, lighting and snow clearance.
In Berlin,
a heavily indebted city-state, the conservative CDU party has proposed a
private financing model based in part on advertising along the route.
"The
bike highways are new in Germany," said Birgit Kastrup, in charge of the
Munich project. "We must find a new concept for funding them."
The German
Bicycle Club ADFC argues that, since about 10 percent of trips in the country
are now done by bicycle, cycling infrastructure should get at least 10 percent
of federal transport funding.
"Building
highways in cities is a life-threatening recipe from the 1960s," said its
manager Burkhard Stork. "No one wants more cars in cities."
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