Study explores how Copenhagen set the standard for bike commuting

While cities around Canada struggle over how best to balance an increasing desire for bike infrastructure and traditional vehicle traffic, some European cities offer a glimpse of how to integrate them together well.

Copenhagen, Denmark, is a city known for its bike-friendly infrastructure. A new study from Sweden’s Lund University by Till Koglin explores how the Danish capital embraced the bike.

Denmark had a slow recovery following the Second World War, which resulted in less investment in vehicle infrastructure and more use of bicycles.

As of 2009, the city had 330 km of bicycle lanes. Politicians regularly run on platforms with key points devoted to issues that are popular with cyclists.

Copenhagen has one department that encompasses urban design, urban planning, transport planning and environmental issues, along with a smaller division devoted to bicycle planning. With all these teams working together, bike traffic becomes something planned alongside other projects, not decided on later as an afterthought.

Denmark has a strong acceptance of bicycles. All demographics of the population cycle to get around. The roads are designed with bike lanes. Separate bicycle traffic lights help drivers stay aware of cyclists using the road. Danes view cycling as something everyone can do, not just some groups of the population.

The city wants to get 40 per cent of the population cycling to work regularly by 2015, up from 34 per cent in 2009. Roads without bike lanes are often slower posted speed limits to ensure motor vehicles move with cyclists rather than around them. Public transport is designed to carry bikes, linking the two methods of travel together.