Utrecht: Dutch Bike Capital

Utrecht is the most impor­tant pub­lic trans­port hub in the Nether­lands, but the city also counts the high­est num­ber of bike move­ments per capi­ta. 125,000 cyclists cross the his­tor­i­cal cen­tre every day on their way to work, uni­ver­si­ty or school. An impres­sive num­ber, con­sid­er­ing that the city only counts 350,000 inhab­i­tants in total. Accord­ing­ly, the city has big ambi­tions for its bike infra­struc­ture. All efforts for improve­ments of pub­lic space focus on bike mobil­i­ty. Safe­ty, com­fort and speed are the main pri­or­i­ties, aim­ing at a dou­bling of cyclist num­bers by 2030. In order to facil­i­tate inter­modal exchange, bike park­ing options around the Cen­tral Sta­tion have been increased. The bike lane net­work is being extend­ed with new bridges, tun­nels and fast bike lanes.

On this tour, we’ll show you bike infra­struc­ture solu­tions around the sta­tion and in the old town. We will vis­it a major trans­porta­tion hub and see how the dif­fer­ent flows of traf­fic are designed, how the bike park­ings are made and orga­nized. Get first-hand insights on bike traf­fic in Utrecht!

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Programme: Dutch Bike Capital

  • Expla­na­tions about the urban devel­op­ment of Utrecht and the devel­op­ment pro­ces of the urban bike lane network

  • Stor­age posi­bil­i­ties around the Cen­tral Sta­tion, incl. largest bike garage in the world with 12.500 places (Ector Hoogstad archi­tecten, 2018)
  • Cathar­i­j­nesin­gel: trans­for­ma­tion from canal to street to canal
  • Dafne Schip­pers bridge (NEXT Archi­tects, 2017): bike bridge lead­ing across the roof of a school building
  • Return to the city cen­tre, bike ride through the his­toric cen­tre: diverse stor­age facil­i­ties, inno­v­a­tive street pro­files and smart park­ing system
  • Moreelse­brug (Cepezed, 2016): 312 metre long bicy­cle and pedes­tri­an bridge with inte­grat­ed trees
  • Oost­er­spoor­baan (OKRA, 2016): Park and bike route on an old rail­way track