Dissing+Weitling is a Danish architecture firm that is becoming very well known for creating bicycle pathways for cities to help alleviate automobile traffic and provide more environmentally forms of transportation. In Copenhagen, the firm created The Bicycle Snake and The Super Bicycle Pathways, which have helped the city become the most bicycle-friendly city in the world, according to some rankings.
It is this experience with creating bike-specific infrastructure that led the Chinese city of Xiamen to enlist the firm to help it create a better environment for bicyclists. Xiamen’s infrastructure was mainly focused on cars and buses, which makes it difficult and hazardous to bicycle along the city’s main arterial routes. The solution to avoid traffic and the hazards associated with it was to raise the bike lane off the ground and create a dedicated bicycle skyway on raised platforms.
The skyway, which, in addition to being China’s first suspended bike path, is the longest elevated bike path in the world, runs along and underneath the city’s existing overhead Bus Rapid Transit system in the central part of the city. The green-floored path is 4.8-meters-wide and its record-breaking 7.6 kilometer distance covers the city’s five major residential and three business centers.
There are 11 different entry points along the path that correspond with 11 bus stations and two subway stations. For anyone who is interested in using the path as a greener alternative to driving a car or taking public transportation but doesn’t have his or her own bike, the new path will provide 355 cycles for hire. Additionally, 253 parking spaces for private bikes on seven separate platforms will be provided.
The entire 7.6-kilometer path was designed and completed in just six months and is currently in use. The Xiamen City Public Bicycle Management Company operates the path for the city’s 3.5 million residents.
Image courtesy of Dissing + Weitling.
For more images of the completed path, click here.
Related Stories
Urban Planning | Jul 8, 2019
U.S. cities experience ‘Doppler shift’ in walkable urban development
The walkability trend is spreading to urbanizing suburbs.
Urban Planning | May 28, 2019
Henning Larsen wins competition to build Chinese leisure city
5.5 million sf waterfront district to be built in Shenzhen, China.
Urban Planning | Mar 1, 2019
What happens when downtown doesn’t stay downtown? The ripple effects of a strong center city
A new report from the International Downtown Association measures the true value and lasting impact of downtowns and center cities.
Urban Planning | Feb 6, 2019
Svigals + Partners to design a memorial garden for victims of gun violence
The park will be located in New Haven, Conn.
Sustainability | Jan 30, 2019
Denmark to build nine industrial, energy-producing islands surrounded by a ‘nature belt’
The project will be located 10 km (6.2 miles) south of Copenhagen.
Urban Planning | Jan 25, 2019
Times are changing, and sustainable cities are taking notice
Two recent studies by Pew Research Center and WalletHub shined a light on where we are in the market transformation curve for environmentalism and sustainability.
Urban Planning | Oct 11, 2018
Shenzhen’s new ‘urban living room’
Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners is designing the project.
Urban Planning | Sep 11, 2018
The advantages of alleys
Believe it or not, alleys started off as public spaces.
Urban Planning | Jul 24, 2018
Deregulation for denser development in Los Angeles moves forward
The aim is to reduce housing costs, traffic congestion.