Urban Infrastructure in Malmo, Sweden.

A little less than an hour away by train from Copenhagen is Sweden! Here, is the smaller town of Malmo, closer in population to the size of Eugene.

In Malmo, the bicycle ridership is closer to 20-%25 and the infrastructure system here relies on 2-way bicycle lanes.

The system in Malmo is different from Copenhagen because in Copenhagen the bicycle lanes are mostly one-way, on the right side of the road. The interesting thing about relying on 2-way bike lanes is that they can start to get complicated at intersections, like when 2 ways intersect or merge with 1 ways.

The nice thing about newer infrastructure however is that designers have a chance to learn from previous lessons.

Below is a picture of a 1 way route in Malmo- It is a modified ‘Copenhagen style’ bike lane. The curb between the road and bike track exists, however, the curb between the pedestrians and bike track is chamfered. I prefer this design so far. (If you get close on your bike and ride the edge of the chamfered edge, you’re less likely to experiment with gravity or have a kaboom, but it does notify riders and pedestrians of the change of use.)

Here, in Malmo, I’ve noticed more play and creative design with the curb heights. As opposed to Copenhagen, the curb is a dominant typology and designers (or urban tactical activists) place asphalt ramps where they need them in order to facilitate entry and existing the bike lane) Below is a close up of an asphalt ramp in Copenhagen.

In Malmo, (below) at this newer intersection crossing for example, the curb heights are not homogeneous and it reinforces a sense of programming, like where to cross on foot or navigate by bicycle.  

(BELOW) This long section of straight through traffic does not need access to the sidewalk. Neither are there crosswalks-the parked cars further prohibit desire crossing points. Here the existence of the curbing encourages a motive space to keep on moving!

Here, in Malmo the use of foot and hand rests at stop lights are also employed. The simple steel post system seems effective and could easily be applied to other municipalities. (One thing interesting about Malmo’s infrastructure is that the some of the lights are manually activated and some are automatic) When do traffic engineers make the switch to automatic lights (assuming bicycle traffic is sufficient to warrant the light? 30% ridership?)

(BELOW) Is one of the intersections that Malmo planners mentioned to our group might need some work.  Here, there is a merging and intersection of multiple bicycle lanes.

The dominant bicycle traffic in this intersection appears to be traveling a NW and East direction. (longer and larger red arrows).

There are multiple smaller bicycle lanes merging as well as pedestrian routes commingling here (smaller red arrows).

Perhaps, merging lanes before the intersection would be better: option 2 below.

Of course, I could spend a lot more time looking at this intersection.. Yet, I would suggest to the planners to push the vehicles stopping point back away from the intersection so the bicycle traffic has more room to jive. (Blue line and arrow shows moving the vehicle red light stopping point off from the intersection).

Perhaps expand the bicycle intersection area to the outlined black lines.

The T (currently located where I drew a green triangle, is awkward). I would encourage users to choose left or right.

Secondly, I would lean into desire lines when redesigning the intersection. (Can users follow the big red arrow, that’s the way they want to go after all?) Could a few directional changes be reduced in this immediate intersection?

The desire line (photographed below) clearly indicates how people would like to travel here, the 90 degree turn seems unnatural and the low profile fence is reinforcing an extra turn here.

Interestingly, more recently the diagonally intersection was a new concept for Copenhagen. This video below shows a complicated intersection perhaps with ideas for Malmo planners. (In Eugene we have this type of intersection at 33rd and Hilyard st)

IMG_2114

Although not the same situation, this intersection is also fairly complex and shows 2way tracks merging and crossing with single way tracks.