In 1973, a Saudi-led oil embargo against the United States triggered a global energy crisis. The price of oil quadrupled, leading to fuel shortages and revealing the West’s dependence on foreign oil and fossil fuels.
In Denmark – a country that had so far eagerly embraced the car – the crisis became an opportunity. Warned about the dangers of energy dependence and agitated by a thriving environmental movement, politicians, politicians and urban planners were ambitiously looking for ways to reduce the use of imported oil.
First, they screwed up investments in renewable energy technologies such as wind and biomass, which now make up 67 percent of the country’s electricity supply.
Secondly, they bet on the strength of the Danes’ quads, skins and glutes, gave up plans for major road projects, set more streets on foot and saw the seeds of the country’s now extensive network of cycle paths.
In this way, a mysterious, two-wheeled and man-driven equipment known as the bicycle came to symbolize Denmark’s green energy transition.
Largest race and city
Due to its investments in renewable energy and bicycle infrastructure, Denmark is now on track to reach its 2050 grid-zero emission target. Nowhere has the bicycle played a greater role in that changeover than in Copenhagen, the Danish capital and bicycle mecca, which aims to achieve net zero emissions by 2025.
According to the Center for Regional Development, cycling in the Capital Region reduces CO2 emissions by 110,000 tonnes per year. In Copenhagen, the number of bicycles is more than five-to-one more than cars, and every weekday cyclists in the city cover a distance of about 1.4 million km – which is equivalent to completing the Tour de France 400 times.
The city has been recognized for its success. In 2008, Copenhagen became the first city to receive the International Cycling Union’s Bike City brand, and since 2015 it has had the title of the world’s most bicycle – friendly city according to the Copenhagenize Index – “the most comprehensive and holistic ranking of bicycles. -friendly cities on planet Earth ”.
Copenhagen is also recognized as one of three “pioneering, successful and world-class cycling cities” by the Handshake project – a Horizon 2020-funded project under the EU’s CIVITAS Initiative. Next to Amsterdam and Munich, Copenhagen serves as a mentor city for European municipalities that want to switch to two wheels.
And in the latest testimony about the Danes’ leadership in everyday cycling, the world’s most famous cycling race will visit the country for three days in July and travel further north than it has ever done before.
Christian Prudhomme, the tour’s general manager, did not need much more persuasion when he heard the slogan “the world’s biggest cycling race meets the world’s largest cycling city”.
Enviable infrastructure
But what is it that makes Copenhagen ‘the world’s largest cycling city’? How is it that 97 percent of Copenhageners are satisfied with the cycling conditions in the city?
It’s all about infrastructure.
From the iconic Cykelslangen, the car-free overpass that winds along Fisketorvet and across the harbor, to Den Grønne Sti, the green path that winds through an old railway corridor, Copenhageners have rich options when it comes to navigating the city on bike.
Since 2005, Copenhagen has spent approximately DKK 1 billion on bicycle infrastructure, and 13 bridges have been built to navigate the harbor and small streams that divide the city. In total, the investments have raised the total length of bike paths in the city to a full 385 km, which has successfully encouraged many to switch from four wheels to two.
The Tour de France, which starts with a 13.2 km time trial through Copenhagen, will showcase some of the city’s world-class cycling infrastructure.
“This is a unique window to show the whole world how beautiful Denmark is, how we use the bike every day, how our infrastructure for the bike paths is, and how you can get around Denmark by bike in the cities without being afraid. , ”Says Alex Pederson, spokesman for Grand Départ in Denmark, to CPH POST.
The time trial begins on Nørre Farimagsgade, from where the riders take their first turn towards Copenhagen’s Queen Louise Bridge – one of the busiest cycle routes in Denmark and the end point of the C95 cycle motorway.
Shortly after, the riders will return to Fredensbro, the bridge where the C93 motorway runs into the city center, and continue through the Trianglen junction along Fælledparken and past Parken Stadion.
They will then follow the inner city turns and pass landmarks such as Amalienborg Castle, Marble Church, Kongens Nytorv and the picturesque Nyhavn waterfront, before sprinting towards the finish line on HC Andersens Boulevard.
The following two days of the trip will see the riders pass from Roskilde to Nyborg, and then from Vejle through Sønderjylland to Sønderborg just across the German border.
When they leave the country on July 3, two new cycle routes will be inaugurated, which will perpetuate their way through the Danish landscape. The routes will be numbered 27 and 37, corresponding to the dates on which the Tour de France field will run them: 2/7 and 3/7.
The work has not yet been completed
In addition to a celebration, the Tour de France in Denmark has also been a call to action. The Ministry of Transport has declared 2022 Denmark’s cycling year ‘, and as part of the country’s infrastructure plan 2035, the Folketing has agreed to spend DKK 3 billion on cycling over the next many years.
The infrastructure package of DKK 160 billion also includes DKK 64 billion for roads and DKK 86 billion for public transport. There were per. May allocated DKK 200 million to 39 bicycle projects across the country in 2022. These figures do not take into account municipally funded transport projects.
According to the national chairman of the Norwegian Cyclists’ Association, Jens Peter Hansen, continued investment in cycling infrastructure is crucial – especially at the national level.
The cycling culture in Denmark is by no means limited to Copenhagen – nine out of 10 Danes own a bicycle, and there are 12,000 km of cycle paths throughout the country – but the capital is something of an outskirts, says Hansen.
According to the city’s figures, 62 percent of Copenhageners now commute by bicycle. In Aarhus – the country’s second largest city – only about 25 percent of the population will work on two wheels.
More worrying, Hansen believes, is that cycling in Denmark has been in decline since 2014 and in fact has also begun to decline in Copenhagen. To combat the decline in cycling, “you need to make better infrastructure for cycling and you need to stop trying to make better infrastructure for cars,” he told CPH POST.
However, he adds that better infrastructure does not just mean more bike paths: “It’s more important to talk about space and not just tracks.”
In Copenhagen, he claims, half of all the space between the houses is dedicated to cars, while the bicycle infrastructure only takes up about 10 percent.
In addition to infrastructure, Hansen argues that policies must be implemented to make cycling the safer, more convenient and more rewarding means of transport. Against this background, he supports the latest push to lower the speed limits in the capital. He also supports the implementation of a Belgian policy that gives employees in participating organizations a financial incentive to cycle to work.
For those who live outside the big cities, he acknowledges the challenge of making cycling the more attractive alternative – a concern that the Danish Minister of Transport Trine Bramsen shares.
Both say it is crucial for this purpose to find better ways to combine cycling and public transport, and they also agree that the advent of electric bikes could be a game changer to make longer distances possible without a car.
“Society’s Swiss Army Knife”
As stated by the Ministry of Finance, Copenhagen experiences an economic gain of 4.80 kroner every time someone rides 1 km on their bike.
As Bramsen puts it: “Society saves a lot of money every time a bicycle is used instead of a car.”
For Hansen, it is about the way these savings arise: by addressing societal challenges related to health, congestion, safety and the environment.
“Cycling is society’s Swiss army knife. No matter what kind of problem society faces, cycling can help solve the problem,” says Hansen.
It takes money to save money, and to reap the benefits of cycling, Denmark must continue to invest in it. It is not a question of whether we can afford it, it is whether we can afford not to. ”
Source: The Nordic Page