Fourth Avenue Underpass is open — what do you think?
I am hoping to try it out by bike sometime today. My friend A went through it and reports that navigating the tracks and trolley scared her to death.
Meanwhile, as we celebrate getting the underpass, Copenhagen will get 13 new bike super-highways.
According to the article, 55 percent of Copenhagen citizens ride their bike daily! A different world.
Here are the features for the proposed bike highways:
- Smooth, even surfaces free of leaves, ice and snow.
- As direct as possible with no detours.
- Homogenous visual expression, for example, with signage and the trademark blue bike lanes through larger intersections.
- ‘Service stations’ with air and tools along the routes.
- Possibility to maintain a high speed and with sufficient width to overtake other cyclists.
- Safe and quick crossing priority for cyclists when they approach cross streets.
- Green Wave for cyclists through sections with frequent stop lights. [The Green Wave is in place on three main routes into Copenhagen already. Cycle 20 km/h and you hit green lights all the way.]The new commuter routes are expected to cost roughly 250 million kroner [$47 million]. A net of routes of similar length, isolated and away from the streets would cost between 1 and 1.5 billion kroner. [$200-280 million].
–Erik Ryberg
August 21st, 2009 at 1:11 pm
I rode it last night and my only problem was that when you come out of it to downtown, you come out and there are no visible bike lanes. I hate it when that happens! Anyone know if they are going to add any bike lanes there? I did like the new bike corral downtown though!
August 21st, 2009 at 1:34 pm
I took a downtown detour last night just to have a looky ride-through. I didn’t think of the trolley tracks as a problem at the time, as I only had to cross them at the south side intersection at a not-very-shallow angle (~45degrees), and the new tracks aren’t as deeply recessed as some of the older sections. Then again I was on the utility bike shod with 26×1.8 Crossroad Armadillos, if I were on the skinny-tired road bike I would’ve taken a lot more care crossing them.
However, being in the habit of constantly scanning for emergency escapes as I ride, it is a good bit unsettling to have a solid concrete wall to my right, leaving nowhere to go but up to get out of the way of any trouble that would be approaching from the left. It’s a very cool looking underpass, but I will most likely continue to cross the train tracks at the surface intersection just a few blocks to the west.
August 21st, 2009 at 2:59 pm
A coolest, sensible and nice touch would be reflectors embedded in the pavement alongside the tracks…cars get warning reflectors in the pavement, why not bikes?
August 21st, 2009 at 4:23 pm
The Danes are serious about their bikeways. As a tourist, about 16 years ago, I found they are not not for pedestrians when a bike, bearing down, dinged at me. I wonder if they have a 3 ft. rule in Denmark for pedestrians.
August 22nd, 2009 at 11:50 am
On the east side of the underpass, the pedestrian walkway is like 40 feet wide. I didn’t see any signage or lane markings that indicated that it was okay to ride a bike there. Meanwhile bikes get the measly 3 feet or so in the street. If they make an underpass that wide, couldn’t we have gotten a little wider than normal bike lane?
The whole deal is a great improvement over what was there before. My first ride in the underpass, I was remarkably panic-free.
August 25th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
I’ve been through it several times now, plus once as a cargo-bike driver, and once as a cargo-bike passenger.
The tracks are definitely a little dicey, particularly if you are coming from the west on Broadway, then make the turn to the underpass.
But, on the other hand, maybe tracks are just things that we bicyclists need to get used to. Overall, I’m rating the whole thing pretty high. The cost was an embarrassment, but the end product looks pretty good. I like the bike corral, too.
EBR
August 25th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
cargo-bike passenger…how the heck did you pull that off, boss? glad you made it out of there alive!
i remember taking the 6th ave. underpass on the cargo bike once and having to stand up and mash on the way up the hill on the other side. i’m assuming the new underpass has a bit gentler of an incline..