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

There is a connection between the shared space landing
at the end of the bridge and surrounding bicycle network
in the promenade paved with cobblestone. Two narrow
paths has been inserted into the cobble stone to make it
more accessible for cyclists, but these paths were probably
not designed to handle the amount of flow over bridge.
The cobble stone pavement limits cycling to the two
paved lanes. These two tracks are shared between cyclists,
people with crafts, woman in high heels, disabled
people and the elderly with walkers. Furthermore they
are placed very close to one another making it difficult to
share a path together (Figure 3.3.51).
Cyclists trying to overtake other cyclists on these paths
are forced onto the cobblestones, this creates a bumpy
ride and whilst observing quite a few chains fell off bikes.
When leaving the two narrow paths to enter the connected
bicycle networks, the most commonly used route
is to cross a privately owned parking lot. The parking lot
is paved with gravel stone (Figure 3.3.53). A temporary
asphalt path has been constructed in the middle of the
parking lot to increase the accessibility. People tend to
drive the shortest way across the gravel stone parking
lot when they are leaving from the bridge, while people
approaching the bridge tend to use the asphalt path. That
makes good sense, as the asphalt path is connected to
the bicycle tracks in the facing street.
Figure 3.3.51: Cyclists on the smooth paved lanes.
Figure 3.3.52: Pavement detail fron Islands Brygge side.
When entering the side of Havneholmen there is a choice
of two routes to go on from (Figure 3.3.54 and 3.3.55). A
route around Fisketorvet shopping center on a municipal
road and a route passing by in front of it in private land. A
lot of people are using the road in front of Fisketorvet as
a shortcut through the site even though the path brings a
series of obstacles. The shortcut is paved with stones and
shared with pedestrians. On the way it has two 90-degree
turns. With no directions or marked roadways, the cyclists
have to be careful not to collide with other cyclists or pedestrians.
The shortcut ends in a staircase connecting Havneholmen
to Dybbølsbro (Figure 3.3.54). In a counting conducted on
the municipality of Copenhagen on Monday September
7th of September 2009 they found that 3208 would drag
their bicycles up and down the stairs. The study does not
include how many of these people actually travel over the
bridge, but we assume that this was the purpose for the
majority of the bikers based on our observations.
The other route around Fisketorvet is around 800 metres
long compared to the shortcuts around 300 metres (Figure
3.3.55). That is approximately 2 minutes extra when
travelling at 16km/h, but this is relative as the cyclist has
to ride up a 250 metre slope to reach same destination
as you would reach when using the stairs. This physical
challenge could be the reason why so many are willing
to step off their bikes and drag them up the stairs (Figure
3.3.54 and 3.3.55).
Figure 3.3.54: Bike route linking to the staircases.
Figure 3.3.55: Longer bike route avoiding staircases.
For people traveling in southern direction this route easy
to use, but for people traveling the same destinations that
the shortcut is fitted for it makes. The route is on proper
road with asphalt pavement. It has green grass and trees
under way and great view conditions. The road is constructed
to be a distribution road for buildings in Havneholmen.
Cargo bikes are forced to take this route, as they
are not suited for dragging up and down stairs (Figure
3.3.57 and 3.3.58).
Figure 3.3.53: Privately owned parking lot.
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