Throughout our time in Copenhagen, I was constantly noticing (and having other people point out to me) all of the features and little details that make the city such a great place for getting around by bike. This blog post covers just a few of these things.

Four types of bike infrastructure

I learned that there are four basic types of bike infrastructure on roads in Copenhagen. On some roads, bikes share the lane with cars. The roads using this method seem to be ones where the speed limit is very low, allowing plenty of time for vehicle operators to anticipate each others’ movements.

A street without any visible bicycle infrastructure – bikes and cars share the same driving space.

Other roads have a painted bike lane on the far right, on the same level as the road that cars use.

A painted bike lane.

The third type of bike infrastructure is the raised lane on the far right of the car lane. Most of the cycle superhighways use this type.

A raised bike lane.

And finally, the fourth type of bike infrastructure is a painted lane buffered from car traffic by parallel car parking. This arrangement protects bicyclists from car traffic because the parked cars physically separate the two modes of transportation.

A painted bike lane buffered by cars.

Traffic calming

Infrastructure design in Copenhagen also includes traffic calming measures, or features that force/encourage cars to drive more slowly and carefully. One method the city uses is to make it so that “the road crosses the sidewalk” — at an intersection between sidewalk and car lanes, the sidewalk stays at the same grade so that the cars must slow and move over it. This design contrasts with the design that we commonly see in the US, where the sidewalk grade decreases at an intersection, forcing the pedestrian to cross car territory as a very vulnerable guest. The image below is an example.

An example of where the road crosses the sidewalk and bike lane an intersection in Copenhagen — the sidewalk and bike lane stay at the same grade while turning cars must go up and over.

The city also uses cobble stones and other forms of bumpy pavement in areas intended mostly for pedestrians as a way to force cars and bikes to slow down while still allowing access.

A bike and cargo bike ride over a short cobble stone connector street — the discomfort of bumpy cobble stones means that they are more likely to go slower in an area where pedestrians are likely to be.

The city has found ways to retrofit old car-centered streets into places that are more human-friendly. Installing diagonal parking spaces on the street helps to narrow the street width, reducing the comfortable speed for cars. The diagonal parking spaces also support ‘bulb outs’ at intersections, which forces cars to slow down when turning onto the street because the opening is smaller. The bulb outs also mean that pedestrians have less ‘car space’ to navigate when crossing the street. As you can see if the picture below, the city has used these methods and others to reclaim space from cars and turn it into a comfortable place for humans to be (seating, play areas, etc).

An example of what used to be a wider, busier street. In this image, the street has been redesigned with traffic calming measures like diagonal parking, curb bulb outs, and seating areas.

Hanging out at an intersection

After finding examples of the four different types of bike infrastructure and learning more about traffic calming, we set out to find an interesting intersection to observe for about 10 minutes. I don’t remember what the street names were at this intersection, but at first glance it seemed busy and hectic. Blue bike lanes, bus lanes, car lanes, and crosswalks extended in every direction. Traffic lights seemed to be everywhere. And yet in most cases, traffic proceeded in an orderly, predictable fashion. Pedestrians crossed when the green person lit up. They stopped when the red person lit up. Cyclists and cars followed their respective signals as well, and traffic wove gracefully around in an elegant dance of wheels and feet.

There was, however, one instance where a car in a right hand lane tried turning right when the parallel bike lane’s signal was green (the car was not supposed to turn right — note the ‘no right turn’ sign in the picture below). A cyclist was moving across the intersection at the time, and the car almost collided with her. Thankfully the car was moving cautiously enough that he was able to stop before making contact. The cyclist continued on her way, unscathed, and the car completed its illegal turn and continued on its journey.

A Copenhagen intersection.

At first, I was not quite sure how that near miss had happened. Upon further inspection though, I discovered that the car should have turned right several feet earlier (see the picture below — instead of making a 90 degree right turn at the intersection, the car was supposed to ease off to the right along a more gradual curve before reaching the intersection). I wonder if the driver was unfamiliar with driving in the city, and therefore did not notice the legal opportunity to turn because he interpreted it as sidewalk/pedestrian and bike space instead. The turn was not obvious because the sidewalk and bike lane stayed at grade through it. So, the point here is that if someone is not familiar with the city layout or the traffic calming measures in use, there is the potential for confusion.

A somewhat confusing right turn for cars at rather complicated intersection in Copenhagen.

Bicycle Bridges

Copenhagen has several cool bridges for bikes to use. Some are for both car and bike traffic, while others are solely for bikes. I rode over the one in the picture below several times on my way to various places, and was happy to be floating blissfully above the swiftly moving cars below.

Bike bridge over a busy road in Copenhagen.

I also got to go over the serpentine bicycle bridge, which was super cool. It overlooks the water and a popular swimming area in Copenhagen.

The serpentine bicycle bridge over the water in Copenhagen.