European Green Capital
In Münster, bicycle transport is top priority. The entire municipal area is criss-crossed by a coherent network of safe bicycle trails, making the use of the bicycle as a means of travel so unique. In the German bicycle capital, there were designated bicycle lanes with an overall length of 304 kilometres in the year 2007. Three years before, this had been 270 kilometres, corresponding to an increment of 12.6%. Additionally, there are some 500 km of access routes including some 200 km of tracks through green spaces, serving the needs of pedestrians and bicyclists alike. The fact that the citizens of Münster make use of the area-wide bicycle lane network gladly and frequently is due to three factors:
• the manageability of the city, with its bicyclist-friendly topography
• the installation of 304 km of separate bicycle lanes along all main artery roads (resolution in principle),
• the car-free promenade of 4.5 km all around the old town which is reserved for cyclists and pedestrians and fulfils important functions as a link and distributor (up to 1,500 bicyclists per hour (at peak times) make use of this “bicycle highway”). The relation to the total number of inhabitants (280.000) to the designated cycle lanes is equivalent to 2,87 Meter per inhabitant.
• the manageability of the city, with its bicyclist-friendly topography
• the installation of 304 km of separate bicycle lanes along all main artery roads (resolution in principle),
• the car-free promenade of 4.5 km all around the old town which is reserved for cyclists and pedestrians and fulfils important functions as a link and distributor (up to 1,500 bicyclists per hour (at peak times) make use of this “bicycle highway”). The relation to the total number of inhabitants (280.000) to the designated cycle lanes is equivalent to 2,87 Meter per inhabitant.
Further important factors for network coherence are:
•the interconnection of the main artery roads with dedicated bicycle tracks
•the junction point solutions taking into account bicycle track routeing and dedicated signalling for bicyclists,
•the integration with all residential areas (with area-wide speed limit of 30)
•the integration within the city centre - with partially limited clearance of the pedestrian precincts for bicyclists, and
• the implementation of bicycle parking offers for short-term and long-term parkers.
•the interconnection of the main artery roads with dedicated bicycle tracks
•the junction point solutions taking into account bicycle track routeing and dedicated signalling for bicyclists,
•the integration with all residential areas (with area-wide speed limit of 30)
•the integration within the city centre - with partially limited clearance of the pedestrian precincts for bicyclists, and
• the implementation of bicycle parking offers for short-term and long-term parkers.
Cyclists from Münster, Germany:
more about Germany:
No comments:
Post a Comment