[Ep. 1044] The Kosciuszko Bridge in New York City and the Martinus Nijhoff bridge in the Netherlands feel strangely similar when you cycle over them. Which one do you like best?
More information in the blog post: https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/?p=26081
Even een 'Ezelsbruggetje': Strikt genomen wordt onder een brug een kunstwerk verstaan dat het weg- of spoorverkeer over water voert. Een viaduct is feitelijk een kunstwerk in een verkeers- of spoorweg over een andere verkeer- of spoorweg. Liever via-via dan Frogger spelen met je leven!
If you want an example of where in the Netherlands cycling is an unpleasant experience (because it's freaking loud!), this bridge comes to mind. Luckily it's "in the middle of nowhere". And then 20 years later America copies it's concept within it's biggest city.
It's weird how even though the US bridge is newer, it looks a lot more run down and worn out than the Dutch bridge. The tall fences and also the style of fences used also make it look uglier.
A friend of mine who was in NYC last month had to walk a detour of a couple of kilometers because there were no stairs to the Brooklyn Bridge near the river bank. I think that's another difference compared to bridges in/near cities in the Netherlands.
While the comparison is nice. I would also suggest sometime seeing the Tilikum Crossing in Portland, OR. That should be the future of American infrastructure, tram + pedestrian + cycling. Too bad NYC is stuck in the 1980s.
How can a bike path, on a bridge just 5 years old , look so worn and torn ?! 🤔 ( or maybe you could say that for bridge as a whole .. it just looks 50 years old …).
I think the main difference would be the access. For the Brooklyn/Queens bridge, I think you would have been glad to have your guide with you to find the right bit of pavement you had to ride on to get to the access ramp, while the bridge over the Waal it flows into a coherent network.
Tadas Kosciuška was a war engineer and general of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania during Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth times. After finishing his studies in France he returned to Lithuania and soon after left to USA (1775) where he fought in USA's war of independence. That's why the bridge is named after him.
0:19 (and more): The car lanes on the Dutch bridge have signalization panels (the black squares; the maximum speed is automatically lowered in case of dense traffic. They can also be used to close a lane in a case of emergency or for maintenance. There doesn't seem to be something similar over the US lanes.
I get the feeling (not only from this video, but also from trips to the US), that in the Netherlands and Europe in general, we pay much more attention to detail. Everything looks so much more friendly and taken care of, while being techically more or less the same. Also maintenance seems better here.
That's the USA for you; can send a man to the moon and back, but can't connect a bridge to a road. (a joke I learned from an American roommate many years ago)
Even brand new infrastructure in the USA (I rode in Portland for years) feels significantly uglier and worse quality than even old infrastructure in historical villages of the Netherlands (my new home)
23 Comments
What is happening with the pedestrian path near the Dutch columns (2:12), that seems a bit strange?
Even een 'Ezelsbruggetje':
Strikt genomen wordt onder een brug een kunstwerk verstaan dat het weg- of spoorverkeer over water voert. Een viaduct is feitelijk een kunstwerk in een verkeers- of spoorweg over een andere verkeer- of spoorweg.
Liever via-via dan Frogger spelen met je leven!
0:37 POLAND MENTIONED
Cars are riding faster in NL and nearly no truck in NYC
If you want an example of where in the Netherlands cycling is an unpleasant experience (because it's freaking loud!), this bridge comes to mind. Luckily it's "in the middle of nowhere".
And then 20 years later America copies it's concept within it's biggest city.
Give me our dutch bridge than the bridge in the US!Looks better maintained and better build.
It's weird how even though the US bridge is newer, it looks a lot more run down and worn out than the Dutch bridge. The tall fences and also the style of fences used also make it look uglier.
A friend of mine who was in NYC last month had to walk a detour of a couple of kilometers because there were no stairs to the Brooklyn Bridge near the river bank. I think that's another difference compared to bridges in/near cities in the Netherlands.
While the comparison is nice. I would also suggest sometime seeing the Tilikum Crossing in Portland, OR. That should be the future of American infrastructure, tram + pedestrian + cycling. Too bad NYC is stuck in the 1980s.
ze zijn in staat het zo deprimerend mogelijk te maken in NEW YORK
These bridges are surprisingly similar! Nice find.
How can a bike path, on a bridge just 5 years old , look so worn and torn ?! 🤔
( or maybe you could say that for bridge as a whole .. it just looks 50 years old …).
I think the main difference would be the access. For the Brooklyn/Queens bridge, I think you would have been glad to have your guide with you to find the right bit of pavement you had to ride on to get to the access ramp, while the bridge over the Waal it flows into a coherent network.
Tadas Kosciuška was a war engineer and general of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania during Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth times. After finishing his studies in France he returned to Lithuania and soon after left to USA (1775) where he fought in USA's war of independence. That's why the bridge is named after him.
0:19 (and more): The car lanes on the Dutch bridge have signalization panels (the black squares; the maximum speed is automatically lowered in case of dense traffic. They can also be used to close a lane in a case of emergency or for maintenance. There doesn't seem to be something similar over the US lanes.
hoe deprimerender de brug is hoe hoger de hekken.
You're a bolder man than I am — during my 20 years in New York City, I was never compelled to try two wheels out on those treacherous streets.
1:31 Had to turn my laptop 90 degrees to see a side-by-side comparison.
I get the feeling (not only from this video, but also from trips to the US), that in the Netherlands and Europe in general, we pay much more attention to detail. Everything looks so much more friendly and taken care of, while being techically more or less the same. Also maintenance seems better here.
That's the USA for you; can send a man to the moon and back, but can't connect a bridge to a road. (a joke I learned from an American roommate many years ago)
Even brand new infrastructure in the USA (I rode in Portland for years) feels significantly uglier and worse quality than even old infrastructure in historical villages of the Netherlands (my new home)
on both bridges you are being poisoned by gigantic loads of air pollution coming out of cars and trucks that cost you 6 months of your life.
You can't really compare a bridge in a tiny country in the Netherlands to a bridge in a huge country like the us