Workshop TR 3.4, Tuesday  20 June, 16.00 - 17.30

Advanced local policies

Herman Kernkamp, alderman in traffic and mobility of the municipality of Utrecht Freerk Veldkamp, director of the advice bureau Wonen & Milieu (Living & environment)   How to solve bicycle parking problems in densely populated inner cities The promotion of cycling in compact middle age cities, where the old heart of the city is restricted for cars requires a bicycle parking policy.  This is more evident in a context where bicycles do get regularly stolen, be theft on the street, be burglary. In the Dutch city of Utrecht the bicycle parking policy is set up considering the needs of its cyclists and inhabitants. When providing bicycle facilities it is necessary to take in account the different target groups, the distances that they wish to travel, the price that they are ready to pay and the theft-proof quality of the provision. In a 80 year old quarter of Utrecht, where the houses have no room to store bicycles, a test has been carried out. A network of bicycle parking facilities has been implemented, including proper parking shelters (maxi), barrels on the street (midi) and clip-bows (mini). This has been combined with measures intended to improve the inhabitability of the neighbourhood. The though traffic is kept away, the car parking places are turned into room for living and bicycle facilities. The messy appearance has improved. The success of the experiment is the cause that the municipality of Utrecht has decided to develop a bicycle parking policy at city level. Just as so many other towns, Utrecht invests a lot of money in providing car parking garages in the city centre. At the same time, in the residential areas paid parking has been introduced in order to prevent visitors parking there. The municipality has taken the decision of building some guarded bicycle parking facilities as well. This way, the bicycle parking becomes part of the mobility policy of the city. However, some problems arise here as well: in a direct concurrence between car and bicycle, the scarce public room and the investments have to be shared, which certainly causes conflict and tension. What sort of questions do we face in Utrecht? What are the possibilities? Where are the problems?

Henrik Lumholdt, Architect m.a.a., City of Odense, Parks and Roads Administration, Odense, Danmark Sophisticated Physical Improvements in Odense Odense is the third largest town in Denmark with 185,000 inhabitants and has a long tradition of planning for cyclists. Today, the bicycle path network in Odense consists of more than 350 km of bicycle paths. Every year, 3 million DKK (approx. 402.000 Euro)  are allocated to expansion of the path network. Over the last 10 years, the cycle traffic has increased by about 50%, however the curve has flattened out the last couple of years. At the same time, the number of bicycle accidents has been reduced drastically. In 1988, 98 personal injuries occurred with cyclists involved, and in 1994 the number was down to 76 injuries - a fall of 22% on the municipal roads. On a national level, the fall in injuries had only decreased by 1%. In January 1999, the Danish Ministry of Traffic nominated Odense as Denmark's National Cycle City. In this connection, over the coming years, Odense will carry out a number of experiments with a view to increasing the share that cycling has of the total  traffic. Furthermore, we will improve the safety and security of cyclists. In this presentation we will focus on the improvements we already made in Odense, as a new marking system for cycling routes, bicycle parking projects and traffic improvements for cyclists.