The city of Copenhagen has recently opened the first [of a planed 26] cycle superhighways, these routes go from the city center out into the countryside and surrounding villages, sound familiar ?
The first route to open runs from Copenhagen to it’s western suburb of Albertslund 11 miles away, a route just a couple of miles longer that the old Tralee to Fenit Railway.
This Cycle Superhighway project has been doing the rounds of major international news outlets recently, lauding the Danish authorities for their work, here is an interesting article from the New York Times which is definitely worth a read.
What is interesting is that the motivation behind the project was to encourage more residents to do their daily commute by bicycle in order to ensure a more healthy and happy population.
“When we look at public hospitals, we look very much at how to reduce cost,” said a regional councilor, Lars Gaardhoj, who had just picked up his three small children in a cargo bike decorated with elephants. “It’s a common saying among doctors that the best patient is the patient you never see. Anything we can do to get less pollution and less traffic is going to mean healthier, maybe happier, people.”