A golden statue of a girl on a bicycle is in a tower in the Town Hall Square. There was a great deal of construction in the square. Whenever there is construction that obstructs the bike path, the city creates a new temporary path for bicycles and pedestrians. On Hans Christian Anderson Boulevard, which feeds into the square, is a bicycle counter that shows the number of cyclists that day, and I think that year, the time and temperature. I was cyclists 3,405 that day at about 11 am.
The pamphlet said that cyclists have only recently been permitted on the trails of packed sand and fine gravel along the lakes. I cycled around one and then saw a sign prohibiting cycles. Woops. I guess cycling isn’t allowed along all lakes. When I cycled around the second lake, I noticed a botanical garden. I enjoyed climbing the circular staircase that took you up to a walkway around the ceiling and allowed you to look down on the tall tropical trees.
The footrestrack was a railing with two horizontal poles that allowed cyclists to hold on and rest a foot as they waited at the stoplight.
Long green bicycle routes run through the city letting bicyclists and pedestrians travel entirely free of traffic. Abuen bridge takes a cycle route that connects Copenhagen to Fredericksburg across a high-traffic boulevard. In Copenhagen there are several sub-mayors for different departments that serve under a head mayor. It was recently discovered that one of the sub-mayors was sleeping in Fredericksburg more nights than he was in Copenhagen. This is against the rules so he was ousted. There does not seem to be any real separation between Copenhagen and Fredericksburg. In any other city it would just be a neighborhood.
Norrebrograde is a cycle track with a green wave that allows traffic lights timed to allow cyclists to continue without having to stop if they travel at 20 km/h. They were doing construction to widen one section of the street that limited access to businesses. Bus lanes run next to the cycle tracks. It seemed a bit perilous when cyclists stepped straight out of the bus onto the cycle track. Perhaps there should be crosswalks marked at bus stops allowing passengers to exit safely. Along this route was a cool mural of a woman on a bicycle. The cycle track leads to the busy Queen Louise bridge, which also has a bicycle counter.
The Norreport metro station has tons of chock-full double-decker bike parking.
The medieval city center has pedestrian only streets lined with shops and restaurants with outdoor seating. The streets were so full of pedestrians that I dismounted and walked my bike. It was magical to be walking down Stroget, a street I had read about in a book by Jan Gehl. The square was full of pedicabs, and food vendors on bike. It started raining when I decided to order a Nutella banana crepe from a pedal powered stand. He asked if I would mind walking to the other corner with him. He explained that the city only permits him to sell on certain corners or in front of certain shops. He said that the city is always trying to make it more difficult for pedal-powered vendors. I should hear reserve judgment until I hear the city’s view point, but perhaps even in the best city’s for cycling, there is resistance to new developments. The vendor said that he thinks the pedicabs operate outside of the city’s regulations. I appreciated the shelter of his umbrella as it started to rain harder. After he finished preparing my crepe I darted under an awning that was already packed with pedestrians. The streets were empty except for the occasional pedestrian darting across the street to an awning or another store. A bicycle raised through without a problem – a rare sight for a street usually packed with people. As soon as the rains subsided, the people flooded back into the streets.
The Christiansborg palace houses the parliament, supreme court, and Prime Minister’s office. They have ample bike parking in the palace courtyard. We need to get our politicians on bikes to fuel the bike movement.
There are two tilted trash cans along the cycle tracks that allow bicyclists to deposit trash without dismounting. Ramps wide enough for tires are helpful for carting bikes up and down stairs.
On my way home I noticed that there was a free concert on Olivia Beach. Eva and Henrik joined me. They explained that the city has decided to put parking underneath the Beach, which is next to the theater. The beach is a temporary use to draw people to the area. There are plans to make a new bike bridge to provide access to the opera house. As of now, ferrys take people to the opera. There was opposition from sailboats that wouldn’t be able to enter the harbor. They are designing the bridge to open in the center and allow sailboats to pass. Who will have to yield, bicyclists or boats? Eva explained, this is why it is important for infrastructure to go into an area first.
It was still light even at 9:00 at night when we went out for dinner. Eva said that bicycles used to fill the square of the Christiantown station. She fought for two years to get the city to create a position for people to move the bicycles into rows to allow space to walk. At first people were resistant to the job because they weren’t going to be provided a car for the job. When they came to understand that they would be taking the metro to organize the bikes at the metro stations they came to love the job. They also do minor maintenance on the bikes and leave a note that says, “You parked your bike in a place where it’s not allowed to be, but I oiled your chain and put air in your tires so I hope you won’t be angry that I put it in line for you.”
Eva pointed out that the sidewalk had been extended to allow for extra bicycle parking. It is expensive to extend the brick sidewalks once they have been installed and creates problems with drainage. A taxi went by with a bike on a rack on the back. Eva mentioned how important it is to have that option. In Sweden none of the taxis have bike racks. Eugene is the only American city that I have spent much time in where I have seen taxis with bike racks. I think that when starting up this system in an American city it would be good to work with businesses that were participating in a business commute challenge. You could offer a guaranteed ride home service via taxi for people who were biking to work. Then you would have a market to convince at least one taxi company to purchase bike racks.
I asked Eva if she has worked with Jan Gehl. She said that she had taken classes from him. She started studying as a landscape architect in Stockholm, did a year in Malmo, and then one more year in Copenhagen, where she took classes with Jan Gehl. Jan Gehl is only now starting to get the credit he deserves in Copenhagen because he was not considered a real architect by the architects. As she said, “It’s hard to be a prophet in your own city”.
For more pictures from the day go to my Picasa Web Album
For more pictures from the day go to my Picasa Web Album
No comments:
Post a Comment