World's Longest Bicycle Commuter Tunnel Opens

San Sebastian Bicycle Tunnel - Photo: Michelena at Diario Vasco

The Basque city of San Sebastian inaugurated the world's longest bicycle commuter tunnel yesterday [07 August 2009] in a former railway tunnel on the Bilbao-San Sebastian route.

The Mayor of San Sebastian, Odon Elorza, and the Deputy Minister of Transport of the Basque Government, Ernesto Gasco opened the tunnel to the delight of the many cyclists in the city. The tunnel is aimed primarily at bicycle commuters but recreational cyclists are expected to use it on the weekends as well.

Elorza expressed satisfaction at the launching of this new infrastructure that improves the network of bicycle lanes in San Sebastian and is "a symbol of progress, sustainability and personal health".

San Sebastian Bicycle Tunnel - Photo: Michelena at Diario Vasco

The bicycle tunnel itself is 850 metres long and a part of a 2 kilometre section of former railway that connects two neighbourhoods in the city and is part of the ongoing commitment of the city to encourage people to choose the bicycle as transport. The project cost €2.6 million [$3.7 million] and it is hoped that it will boost the further development of dedicated bicycle infrastructure in the Guipuzcoa Province.

San Sebastian is the second-largest city in the Basque region with roughly 180,000 people and 405,000 in the metro area.

Amazing that a city of this size is willing to invest in such remarkable bicycle projects when larger cities elsewhere have trouble painting bicycle lanes. Spain has hardly enjoyed status as a bicycle-friendly country in the past. It's a car-centric nation and Spaniards only ride 27 km a year per capita, compared with roughly 1000 km in Denmark and the Netherlands. It looks like things are changing for the better. Here's a list of countries will how many kilometres they ride.

San Sebastian Bicycle Tunnel - Photo: Michelena at Diario Vasco

The tunnel features 29 security cameras, a public adress system and closed circuit camera link for the Municipal Guard. It will be closed at night between 23:00 and 07:00.

San Sebastian Bicycle Tunnel - Photo: Michelena at Diario Vasco

You can see a TV reportage about the new tunnel over at Diario Vasco. It's in Spanish but there is some great footage of the tunnel as well as the many cyclists in San Sebastian.

San Sebastian is just one of scores of cities in Europe who are working hard to improve the conditions for their cycling citizens but one that is often overlooked in a global perspective, much like cities like Toulouse.

The city is no stranger to Cycle Chic, either:

Thanks to Gorka for the heads up! He writes:
I wanted to share with you the news of the inauguration of this tunnel in San Sebastian, Basque country. It is 2 km long and it connects two neighborhoods of the city. Here in the Basque country, we are trying to be the Copenhagen of the Iberian Peninsula!!

You're well on your way, Gorka. Nice one.

This isn't the first time we've posted about bicycle tunnels. There are various tunnels on the drawing board around the world. This is, however, the first large one that is completed.

Here's a post about tunnel proposals in Copenhagen and Qatar.
Here's one about a tunnel in Norway.
Addendum: Paddy just told us about plans for a 1700 metre long tunnel in Bath, UK.

Bike Helmet Protest in Melbourne

I had a brilliant week in Melbourne as a guest of the State of Design Festival . Loads of interviews and events that all culminated with my keynote speech on the Saturday. There was, however, an event on the Saturday morning - July 26, 2010 - that was extremely interesting to be a part of. A group of citizens, rallied together by filmmaker and bicycle advocate Mike Rubbo , decided to go for a bicycle ride together on Melbourne's new bike share system bikes. A splendid idea. Melbourne's bike share system is shiny new, although unlike most cities in the world with a bike share programme, only 70-odd people are using them each day. In Dublin, by contrast, there are over 30,000 subscribers. Not to mention the cracking successes in Paris, Barcelona, Seville and most of the over 100 cities with such systems. So, a group of people, many of them Copenhagenize.com readers, fancy a bike ride. Sounds lovely enough. They met up at the bike racks at Melbourne University. Hired the bikes wi

Head Protection for Motorists

A while back we posted about an Australian 'motoring helmet' designed to protect motorists' heads in car accidents. It was designed in the late 1980's. Then we recieved this tip yesterday. Another head protection device for motorists, this one developed at the University of Adelaide, in Australia. A serious product for the serious of protecting motorists from the dangers of driving. Despite airbags and seatbelts, motorists are victims of alarming head injury rates. Here's what the Centre for Automotive Safety Research [CASR] in Australia says: The Centre has been evaluating the concept of a protective headband for car occupants. In about 44 percent of cases of occupant head injury, a protective headband, such as the one illustrated, would have provided some benefit. One estimate has put the potential benefit of such a device (in terms of reduced societal Harm) as high as $380 million, compared with $123 million for padding the upper interior of the car. Thi

Fear of Cycling 03 - Helmet Promotion Campaigns

Third installment by sociologist Dave Horton, from Lancaster University, as a guest writer. Dave has written a brilliant assessment of Fear of Cycling in an essay and we're well pleased that he fancies the idea of a collaboration. We'll be presenting Dave's essay in five parts. Fear of Cycling - Helmet Promotion Campaigns - by Dave Horton - Part 03 of 05 Like road safety education, campaigns to promote the wearing of cycle helmets effectively construct cycling as a dangerous practice about which to be fearful. Such campaigns, and calls for legislation to make cycle helmets compulsory, have increased over the last decade. In 2004, a Private Members’ Bill was tabled in the UK Parliament, to make it an offence for adults to allow children under the age of 16 to cycle unless wearing a helmet. Also in 2004, the influential British Medical Association, in a policy turnaround , voted to campaign for helmets to be made compulsory for all cyclists (for comprehensive detail on these

The Life-Sized City Blog

Search This Blog