I’m not sure who said it, but one of the first days during the trip we heard the phrase “the bigger the street, the better the infrastructure should be” (for bikes, our focus) and it has really stuck with me, because it’s so right and so obvious and almost so opposite of actual practice in most cities.  The basic point is that on the biggest and busies streets – the ones that feel potentially most unpleasant and unsafe to bike on because of the high volume and speed of cars – the infrastructure for people on bikes needs to be high quality.  And high quality on busy streets means grade separated (preferably) or barrier separated cycle tracks.  And those cycle tracks need to be wide because those are the busy streets, meaning not just busy for people on cars, but should also be busy for people on bike as they are main arteries of our transportation systems, providing access for further distances as well as to places along the easy as well.  People on bike travel at different speeds so having space to pass others is critical, as is providing space so that people can ride next to each other and talk – it can be social as well as movement! (A cycle track is like a bike lane, but has some type of physical barrier between the space for bikes and the movement of cars.  When on a proper cycle track, it feels like riding a bike on a river path through the park in terms of comfort, but is in the urbanized area where our schools, shops, jobs and friends actually are.)

So, what does a typical American city do with its big streets (big generalization, but it fits)?  Streets got big to move more cars, meaning both higher speeds and many lanes for car traffic.  Traffic engineers generally don’t like cars to be near humans walking/biking so rarely is there any bicycle infrastructure at all (or humane sized sidewalks).  In Eugene, think Franklin, 6th and 7th, or West 11th.  In some cities, a simple bike lane (line of paint) may be on such streets as a sign of how progressive a bike city it is; in Eugene, think 11th, River Road, Coburg Road, or Pearl. So, generally the message is – big streets are for cars, and people on bike can use the little streets next to them and those other streets may have some tweaks to make them a bit more bike friendly, but rarely not. The real response, though, should be that bicycle infrastructure should exist on those quieter streets AND the big, streets as well.  After all, cars have ubiquitous access to all streets, so why don’t people on bike?

Would you send your 10 year old on any of those streets on bike?  Probably not, meaning your 10 year old will never make it to the Eugene library or Saturday market or Eugene Toy & Hobby or maybe the skate park or basically to any middle or high school and likely not to most elementary schools.  How sad.  Or forget your 10 year old – what about you? I know that for most of my friends, any of these streets exceed their stress threshold, so it is completely rational not to think of getting on a bike to do normal life things, despite that most people’s destinations are within a 2 mile journey from home, certainly 3 miles, and almost guaranteed 4 miles and all involve these streets.

How very sad, for all of us, that such freedom and independence has been designed out of our lives.  Which brings us to Denmark, or at least Copenhagen and the journey north to the city of Helsingor, 25 miles away. Are there big streets in Copenhagen that compare to big American sized streets?  Is it possible to have completely separated cycle tracks on such streets if they exist? Obviously the answer is yes and yes, otherwise I wouldn’t have written this post! Have a look at these pictures – not very ‘old Europe’ looking are they?  And they all – ALL!!! – are grade separated and often have other separation (parked cars, for example)  – because the bigger the street, the better the infrastructure should be.  The cycle tracks are generally 12′-16′ wide – enough to easily ride socially talking to a friend and often wide enough for a third person on bike to pass a talking pair.  (Note that the images have few vehicles because it’s summer and many people have left the city for vacation, but the streets are otherwise busy with cars and busy with people on bike.)