Pedal Pushers: Denmark Unveils a Bike Commuter's Dreamland Pedal Pushers: Denmark Unveils a Bike Commuter's Dreamland

Pedal Pushers: Denmark Unveils a Bike Commuter's Dreamland

by Zachary Slobig

July 21, 2012

Imagine a city fed by dozens of miles-long bike super highways, separate from roads, streetlights, and harried drivers. Imagine living 10 miles outside a metropolis and zipping home from work—faster than you would in a car—on a solar-lit, asphalt ribbon, eliminating one ton of your personal carbon load annually. Witness the latest reason that Copenhagen is officially a bike commuters' Shangri-La: a bike super highway connecting the city to the suburb of Albertslund.

This bike super highway is just the first in a network of 26 total that will feed Denmark's biggest city—a web of bike-only avenues intended for utilitarian commuting, not just weekend joy riding. The Swedes have their own plan in the works for an inter-city bike highway as well. London also has a network underway, with one bike-only road complete and six more expected by 2015. The New York Times reports that, at least for the Danes, this isn't necessarily a environmental movement per se:    


Denmark is throwing money into making bicycle commuting even more attractive in a country where roughly half use pedal power already to get to school or work. Perhaps the Scandinavian model will light a fire here in the States to restart a grand plan for a coast-to-coast bike superhighway, or at least some burb-to-city ones. In the meantime, 2-wheeled flash mob activists will continue to make their own bicycle super highways

Photo (cc) Flickr user petur r

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Pedal Pushers: Denmark Unveils a Bike Commuter's Dreamland