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Longest elevated cycle path in the world opens in China

The five miles of elevated bicycle-specific paths feature cycle hire stations at either end and tie in seamlessly with surrounding infrastructure

The longest elevated bike path in the world has been opened in the Chinese city of Xiamen.

Dubbed "the winding viaduct" by Chinese news agency Xinhau, the route is predicted to spur a cycling infrastructure revolution across the country. 

Standing at five miles long and 16 feet wide, large sections of the route sit underneath an elevated motor vehicle expressway offering shelter from the elements for the 2,023 cyclists the route can carry per hour.

The route is set to be open from 6.30am to 10.30pm during an initial month-long trial period, and individuals who are without bicycles can hire one of 300 hire bikes along the route.

Alongside cycle hire stations the route will feature bike servicing pavilions and plenty of bicycle parking for privately owned bicycles.

The route's resemblance to the widely praised Danish Bicycle Snake cycle route that carries cyclists across Copenhagen's harbour is no surprise. The architecture firm responsible for "the winding viaduct" is Copenhagen-based firm Dissing + Weitling, known for the creation of landmark bridges and, of course, the Bicycle Snake.

One of the largest differences between the Copenhagen bridge and the Chinese "viaduct," other than the distance covered, is how long the two projects took to complete. Copenhagen's Bicycle Snake was bogged down in disputes for eight years before it was completed, while the elevated route in Xiamen took less than a year to go from planning to completion.

>Read more: New cycling bridge takes Copenhagen cyclists across city's harbour

The route itself is said to cover the city's five major residential areas and three business centres. There are 11 entrances onto the path which connect to 11 bus stops and two underground rail stations. 30,000 lights will also illuminate the path when night falls, and automated gates will help control flow if the route exceeds its capacity.

Local residents are already praising the project, one resident told Xinhau news agency that he had to put his fears aside to try the cycle route, but he's glad he did.

"I'm a little bit afraid of the height, so I thought I would dare not ride on it. But today I found the guardrail made me feel safe," Wu Xueying told Xinhau.

"It's nice to ride a bicycle under the blue sky in the sunshine."

While others have been pleased with the efficiency of the route.

Chen Yimen, another local resident, told Xinhau: "I tried today, and it took 10 minutes from my home to my workplace, which is the same as when I was driving."

If Boris Johnson and famous British architect Lord Norman Foster had their way back in 2013, we might not be looking at a five-mile stretch of elevated cycle path in a south-eastern Chinese city for the world record.

A collaboration with Network Rail was proposed by Lord Foster back in 2013 to create 135 miles of elevated cycle routes above the city's railways.

The plans included ten routes and 209 access ramps at a height of three storey building, and were predicted to adopt the name "SkyCycle".

>Read more: Boris Johnson shoots down "fantastically expensive" SkyCycle plan

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14 comments

Avatar
ktache | 7 years ago
1 like

Yes TonautBrom, it's the big ramps that have to connect the ground level, where most of the stuff cyclists want to get from and to, and the high level, which have to be higher than the stuff that uses the roads.  Think bridges over motorways.  As Easy as Riding a Bike has talked about why the Dutch prefer underbridges rather than over bridges, much less climb/descent.

Avatar
TonautBrom | 7 years ago
1 like

Hang on. We're all slavering over this now, but weren't there hoots of derision echoing round here when the idea was put forward for London?

Avatar
FluffyKittenofT... replied to TonautBrom | 7 years ago
0 likes
TonautBrom wrote:

Hang on. We're all slavering over this now, but weren't there hoots of derision echoing round here when the idea was put forward for London?

Very good point.

Though it's not unreasonable to think that perhaps the physical conditions and social context might be different in the two cities/countries. So I would argue its not inconsistent to think this looks cool while not really thinking it's the solution for UK cities.

(Maybe it could be extravagantly added at the very end, after the glorious day when we have all the normal infrastructure that we really need - when its not really necessary for any practical reason but would be a nice way to celebrate and to rub their final total defeat into the face of the petrol-heads? Mix the concrete with the tears of Daily Mail columnists!*).

* possibly excepting Peter Hitchens.

Avatar
davel | 7 years ago
0 likes

So in order to Get Shit Done,
first, we need to become a one party state,
second, hope our local government starts caring about cycling.

England and Scotland are on their way with the first... I'm sure our benevolent dictators have a complete change of tack on transport lined up  1

Avatar
ConcordeCX replied to davel | 7 years ago
3 likes

davel wrote:

So in order to Get Shit Done, first, we need to become a one party state, second, hope our local government starts caring about cycling. England and Scotland are on their way with the first... I'm sure our benevolent dictators have a complete change of tack on transport lined up  1

in Scotland half the people already take the high road while the other half take the low road.

Avatar
wycombewheeler | 7 years ago
0 likes

While others have been pleased with the efficiency of the route.

Chen Yimen, another local resident, told Xinhau: "I tried today, and it took 10 minutes from my home to my workplace, which is the same as when I was driving."

---

Doesn't seem very efficient to me, Cycling to work takes me half the time of driving to work.

Avatar
nowasps | 7 years ago
2 likes

They don't even appear to have a snarled motor traffic problem in the video. It's almost as if they have the supernatural ability to think ahead in terms of transport infrastructure. 

 

 

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kitsunegari | 7 years ago
0 likes

Wonderful, well done China.

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OldRidgeback | 7 years ago
0 likes

A good project and I think we'll see more of these in Chinese cities.

Avatar
tritecommentbot | 7 years ago
4 likes

Try suggesting that on our insular little island and it'd start some sort of cultural war.

 

 

 

 

Avatar
Metaphor | 7 years ago
3 likes

The new world superpower, scientific leader and cultural reference.

Avatar
Leviathan replied to Metaphor | 7 years ago
1 like

Ramuz wrote:

The new world superpower, scientific leader and cultural reference.

Economic superpower, cultural juggernaut. But scientific leader, not by a long chalk.

Anyway, where is the Strava segment? 'STRAVA!!!!!'

Avatar
NPlus1Bikelights replied to Leviathan | 7 years ago
0 likes

Leviathan wrote:

Ramuz wrote:

The new world superpower, scientific leader and cultural reference.

Economic superpower, cultural juggernaut. But scientific leader, not by a long chalk.

Anyway, where is the Strava segment? 'STRAVA!!!!!'

I thought this video was artists impression but it's just bad quality making the cyclists at the beginning look pixely and digitally added.  Does anyone know the purpose of the narrow gates at 22seconds in the article's video? Counters/ toll options?

Everyone would be joint first on Strava-: 25km/h speed limit according to this slightly better quality video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iae_T6r9Vuw

 

[Edit for typo]

 

 

Avatar
MandaiMetric replied to NPlus1Bikelights | 7 years ago
0 likes

NPlus1BikelightsNJerseys wrote:

Does anyone know the purpose of the narrow gates at 22seconds in the article's video? Counters/ toll options?

Xiamen City Public Bicycle Management said during the trial period, the bike lane will be open from 6:30 AM till 10:30 PM for private and public bicycles. When finished, it will be equipped with on-ramp gates that will shutter if the cycleway is too full.

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