Aalborg Universitet Bike Infrastructures Report Silva, Victor ... - VBN

3 The demonstration projects in
Tilburg and The Hague
3.1 Political context
In chapter 2 we shortly described the paradigm shift of the
1970’s in the thinking about traffic, resulting in more attention
for (the safety of) cycling and walking. In this atmosphere
of growing awareness a budget line for subsidizing
cycling facilities in urban areas was introduced for the
first time in the Multi Annual Plan for Persons Transport
1976-1980 of the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and
Water Management. Such facilities were meant to stimulate
bicycle use. Municipal projects to improve cyclists’
safety were eligible for a 80% subsidy.
As the construction of such facilities – in those days – appeared
to be not that simple, the minister took up the plan
to implement two so called ‘demonstration bicycle routes’
in The Hague and Tilburg as an example for other municipalities
to follow suit. These demonstration routes would
be funded 100% by the national government.
Both Tilburg and The Hague were chosen because these
municipalities had formulated policies to improve cycling
conditions in line with the aims of the government. These
cycling policies were meant to slow down the increase of
motorised traffic and to strengthen the (at that time deteriorating)
position of cycling (and also public transport).
As the available budget was supposed to be spent in
1976 there was little time for preparation and design. The
ministry was keen on making the demonstration route
available as soon as possible in order to stimulate other
municipalities to follow the given example.
And at the same time there was an ambiguity in the
character of these projects: on the one hand they should
show the feasibility of dedicated bicycle routes, and on
the other hand these projects had to contribute to an increased
knowledge and understanding of the effects of
certain interventions, which implied systematic before
and after studies. Thus the routes included some (at that
time) experimental solutions which effectiveness had to
be assessed. The result of this ambiguity was (amongst
other things) that the implementation of the routes took
a bit more time than anticipated, and also resulted in an
extensive research to the effects of the implemented facilities
on bicycle use, road safety, the appropriateness of
certain designs and the experiences of the users.
10 11