Rolling out a red carpet for cyclists

This blog post does not show an example of good cycling infrastructure. Please see the note at the bottom of this guest blog post which explains why.

The red of the cycle paths and lanes in the Netherlands is really standing out. It makes clear where the realm of the motorists stops and that of cyclists starts. Some people think the red is paint but that is not the case. It is actually a thick layer of very smooth red asphalt.

The video below shows how a Dutch street with separate red cycle lanes is created. Four rolling machines were needed for this street. Two roll out the red asphalt for the red cycle lanes and two the black asphalt for the lanes for motorised traffic.

The road was resurfaced because it wasn’t up to the very high Dutch standards anymore. Workers spent about two weeks scraping off the old top layer and then in one weekend the four machines rolled out the new top layer in a single sweep. According to the local newspaper about 700 metric tonns of asphalt for the 1 kilometre long street.

Before: earlier repairs clearly visible and an uneven surface.

After: new lids and a very smooth surrounding road surface.

The road is now very smooth again and the cycle paths are very clearly marked with a un-interrupted white lane (which means motorised traffic may never enter the cycle lanes, so there is “no stopping at any time”).

Before: an uneven and worn surface due to years of use.

After: very smooth new asphalt with a bright red cycle lane.

It may be interesting to know that this whole resurfacing exercise is only a temporary measure as the road is expected to be changed into a 30kph (18mph) zone within the next 5 to 10 years. The surface and width of a 50kph (31mph) road that it is now will not be suitable when that happens. A 30kph zone should have traffic calming measures like raised junctions and lanes for motorised traffic that are a lot narrower.  

A before-and-after ride from beginning to the end of the resurfaced street.

Cycle paths or lanes are not always red. There is no law regulating the colour of cycling infrastructure. It is for every municipality to decide. The city of ‘s-Hertogenbosch decided as follows:

• main cycling routes are always red;
• secondary routes can also be black (asphalt) but on ‘points of conflict’ they have to be red.

So that leads to the conclusion that the red is there for more than one reason. To make clear to cyclists where the main routes are and to other road users where they may encounter cyclists.

Note from David

Nothing prevents Dutch drivers from
swerving into on-road cycle-lanes and
causing danger to cyclists.

While Mark thought this facility worthy of praise, I'm less sure of its merit. I think it's unhelpful to show examples of infrastructure like this to a global audience as this gives the impression that on-road cycle lanes are a worthy type of cycling infrastructure. Such lanes do not keep cyclists safe in the same way as do cycle-paths away from the road and in many cases their existence excuses having not unravelled motor routes from cycle routes.

In the Netherlands, just as elsewhere,
people do not feel an adequate degree
of subjective safety due to on-road
lanes. They would often rather cycle
even on a pavement with a truck
parked on it than on the road.

In the Netherlands just as in other countries, lower quality infrastructure such as on-road lanes are associated with less pleasant and often more dangerous cycling.

Please see a future blog post which illustrates how all the problems which are caused by building on-road cycle-lanes elsewhere happen just as often in the Netherlands.

Please also read a blog post showing actual red carpets used to preserve space for pedestrians in a city full of bicycles.