Norway will spend almost $1 billion on new bike highways

Norway announced a new tool in its fight against transit emissions: a new network of bike highways.

As part of a plan, the country will spend a massive 8 billion Norwegian Kroner ($923 million) creating 10 broad, two-lane, cross-country bike tracks in and near Norway’s nine largest cities, allowing longer-distance cyclists to travel with speed and safety hitherto impossible. A key component of plans to slash Norway’s transit emissions by half, the bike highway scheme still faces some resistance. Not only is cycling in Norway relatively uncommon by Scandinavian standards, but the new highways will be constructed in a mountainous country that is cold and dark for much of the year.

 First, it’s important to be clear about what’s being planned. In keeping with the emerging European definition of the term “bike highway” (“super cycleway” in Norwegian), these will not be tracks linking far-flung cities across hundreds of miles, at least not at this initial stage. What the new paths will do is create bike commuter links between inner cities and outer suburbs, extending the protected cycle network out from urban cores through the commuter belt and into the countryside beyond.

These broad, twin-lane tracks will do more than offer protection, per se. They’ll allow cyclists to speed up safely, riding at up to 40 kilometers (25 miles) per hour and thus making longer commutes feasible. If they succeed, they should take the pressure off roads and public transit and help to cut Norway’s fossil fuel use.

Source: CITYLAB

Credit photo: Google images, Photo by Olivier Guillard on Unsplash

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