'A third budget for Dutch roads (1.3 billion) must go to bicycle highways'

So that e-bikes and cyclists can cycle more safely

The government has reserved 4.6 billion euros for next year for the maintenance and renovation of Dutch roads. You would think that we could improve some motorways with that, but the 'Tour de Force' project group wants to invest more than a third in cycle paths. In particular, the bicycle highways, which are also called cycle routes. Shall we also call the motorway a drive-through route from now on?

The bicycle highways in the Netherlands exist to get people out of their cars and onto their bikes. This means that people who use their cars to commute to work in particular have to cycle. There are currently 62 cycle routes in the Netherlands, totaling 600 kilometers. 'Tour de Force' would like to expand this to 264 routes of a total of 3,500 kilometers. This would require 1.3 billion euros.

What are bicycle highways?

Fortunately, the cycle routes are not two lane roads with a speed limit of 100 km/h during the day and 130 km/h in the evenings. The special cycle paths are extra long, extra wide and have as few bends as possible. It is also useful if these roads do not cross highways. The idea of the bicycle highways is to make it as safe as possible for e-bikes, cyclists and other fast guys on pedals.

For the time being, the plans appear to be partly on hold. "The Cyclists' Union has calculated all the provincial council programs and there is little new money for cycle routes," project leader Saskia Zwiers told RTL Nieuws . The current amount should be enough to achieve the short-term goals, but that 3,500 kilometers of cycle path is not planned for the time being.

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