Some cities are making amazing infrastructure improvements to evolve their “green” transportation goals, which focus on cycling, e-bikes, and pedestrians.
Here are the top ten city-focused efforts that have been successful followed by descriptions of the projects:
- Make E-Bikes Affordable
- Open Streets Events
- Greenway Networks
- Superblocks
- Public Plazas
- Low-Traffic Neighborhoods
- Bike Parking at Transit Hubs
- Bike Highways
- Express Bike Networks
- Protected Bike Lanes
Let’s take a look at the cities that have done an excellent job of implementing infrastructural changes and programs that support green transportation. These wonderful examples of successful projects can be replicated by other cities.
Make E-Bikes Affordable
To help people buy an electric bike, the municipal government of Denver, Colorado offers e-bike rebates as a voucher program along with state incentives. Adding free or low-cost solar-panel-powered recharging stations is the next phase of this improvement.
Open Streets Events
Cities around the world are finding opportunities to open streets up for pedestrians and cyclists through Open Streets events. The “Ciclovia” held in Bogotá, Colombia. the streets are closed to vehicular traffic and open for walking, cycling, running, and skating. The public loves these events and comes out in droves to enjoy them.
Greenway Networks
The city of Atlanta, Georgia, has the Beltline project, which is made of multi-use trails running parallel to the light rail system. You can either bicycle along the trails or take your bike onto the light rail to get to where you need to go faster.
Superblocks
In Barcelona, Spain, Superblocks have no vehicular traffic, creating people-focused public spaces. These places have a festive attitude like a big party.
Public Plazas
New York City has permanent pedestrian plazas in many parts of the city. When there is a bad NYC traffic jam, it is better to walk, use a bicycle, or hop on the subway.
Low-Traffic Neighborhoods
London has low-traffic neighborhoods as a key part of its Streetspace program. The London city managers take traffic control very seriously and ban it in many pedestrian-focused areas.
Bike Parking at Transit Hubs
Utrecht city in the Netherlands has the world’s largest bike-parking facility with a capacity of 12,500 bikes. Having a bike in the Netherlands is a must, or you can easily rent one.
Bike Highways
The capital region of Denmark has Cycle Superhighways to connect cities. That’s right, you can get from city to city on the bike superhighway.
Express Bike Networks
Montréal, Canada, has an extensive system called the Express Bike Network which has concrete curbs separating bicycle traffic from vehicular traffic. No need to worry about being cut off in traffic by a vehicle driver who fails to see you on your bicycle, which is a big problem in other cities where bikes have to ride in the vehicular traffic lanes.
Bike Lanes
Cities across the world are developing safe bicycle routes. While many cities have separated bike lanes like those in Louisville, Kentucky, others are striving for even safer routes. The city of Vancouver in Canada has protected bike lanes with separate traffic signals. This helps protect the cyclist, keeps things moving efficiently, and reduces traffic accidents.
As you can see from this wonderful list, many future-thinking cities have made great strides in advancing their goals to become greener and reduce vehicular traffic while supporting alternatives such as cycling, e-bikes, and pedestrian areas/routes.