5 Gorgeous Dutch Bike and Ped Bridges + 1 Bike Garage

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Netherlands’ cities have been building some fantastic bike infrastructure in 2012-2013. And not only in Amsterdam, but throughout the country. I collected some pictures from Twitter, Facebook and the web.

Unfortunately, I don’t know who took the pictures, but I trust someone can let me know. Here are some pictures and a clip of a bridge in Zoetermeer (near The Hague)  that is nearly finished. Plus one new bike parking garage for 1500 bikes (which is fairly small for a Dutch city).

Of course, it is not always the cheapest option that is chosen, but don’t underestimate the effects of beautiful design. It puts your city on the map and it shows that you are not skimping on such a positive thing as active transportation.

Eindhoven – Hovenring

The road used to be a roundabout, but became a ‘normal’ intersection. This suspended bike roundabout was built to conquer the problem of trying to keep traffic moving without making the waiting time to long for each type of road user. As you probably know, the Netherlands has separate bike traffic signals with their own light cycles, just like we have ped lights in North America. As long as we have right through red in many places, bike traffic signals won’t really work though.

Amsterdam – Nescio Bridge

Groningen – Europapark Bike parking

Denmark’s Copenhagen is a bike desert compared with Netherlands’ Groningen’s 60% bike modal share. You have to store those bikes somewhere. In 2012 the new Europapark station opened. The station has an underground parking for 1500 bikes and has the same design as the station, not some crappy concrete afterthought or five wheel benders. There are 50 pillars with liniLED® Side Groen Deco (source: architectuur.nl)

Nijmegen – Fietsbrug “t Groentje” (“Little Greenie”)

Built in Belgium and trucked to the Netherlands in 3 parts, each 110,000 kg and 40 meters long, Ottawa’s bridge builders should probably go to Europe and learn a thing or two about bridge building. It took one weekend to put the pieces into place.

Nijmegen – De Oversteek (“The Crossing”)

Opened in the summer of 2013, this is not really a bike bridge, but note the bidirectional bike path, shared with pedestrians. Bidirectional bike lanes are considered life threatening stone age disasters by North American engineers, but not uncommon in bike heaven Netherlands.

Zoetermeer – Westerpark bridge

The Westerpark bridge in Zoetermeer should be finished late 2013, but it looks like it isn’t open yet. It connects two nature parks and is part of a regional bike route. It is worth checking the two minute clip with the artist impression video. Watch for the video doing its viral rounds eventually. You saw it here first.

Six new bicycle bridges for Ottawa

Update, August 2014: Ottawa is building a number of bike and ped bridges, one over the Airport Parkway that should be ready by the end of 2014. Another one is being built over the Rideau river. A third one is currently being built over the Queensway connecting the railway station with the baseball stadium. Yet another bridge should be built over the O-train soon and last but not least, bridges are planned over the canal at 5th Ave and the Prince of Wales railway bridge might eventually be adapted for cycling. That is a total of six new bridges which I think is pretty unprecedented for a North American city. They won’t be as pretty as the Dutch, but we are only in the phase of building the network.