Copenhagen inaugurates a 13 km unbroken harbour-side bicycle path
Copenhagen on Sunday (May 29) inaugurated the latest addition to its bicycle paths – the Harbour Circle bicycle path.
The 13 kilometre Harbour Circle will be added to Copenhagen’s already existing 350 plus kilometres of bike paths.
Certain stretches of the Harbour Circle already have among the highest number of cyclists in the world – every day 41,400 cyclists cross the old harbour bridge Knippelsbro and every day 42,600 cyclists ride down the street Norrebrogade.
New bicycle bridges have created an unbroken cycle path that is expected to increase the number of cyclists even more.
The path features unique bicycle signs, some of which help cyclists hit a “green wave” of traffic signals to make bike-life easier and faster.
Bicyclists from abroad were impressed.
“Here it’s better planed, it’s better structured, it’s easier to go about in Copenhagen by bicycle than in parts of Amsterdam,” said Roland Kirsbergen from the Dutch capital which is also famous for its cycling.
“It’s nice. It seems a lot more infrastructure is built in and it seems like a lot more relaxed and organised pace,” said Bessie Chu from the United States.
“The architecture is much more geared towards cycling. It follows from the extensive network of cycle paths. It plays a much larger role in Copenhagen than in the example our hometown Trier. I would say that it is significantly better than what we are used to,” said Carl Ekkehart from Germany.
Bicycle rental shops along Copenhagen Harbour Circle expect brisk business and an increase in tourists since the route passes the capital’s landmark “Little Mermaid” statue, new architecture and design as well as places to meet and swim.
“If we want to be the world’s best city for cyclist, I think it’s quite fair that you have a state-of-the art system of bike share. It’s an electric bike, it has a tablet in front with a map built in and a route planner and everything, so it’s basically taking cycling to a new level,” Klaus Bondam, head of the Danish Cyclists Federation, said about the city’s rental bikes.