Cycling City Aarhus
The bicycle is the preferred, healthy and sustainable means of transportation for the citizens of Aarhus, and the City of Aarhus has introduced many creative initiatives to ensure the safe and easy passage of cyclists through the city centre.
Aarhus is thus one of the best biking cities in the world and we have the ambition that even more of the residents’ transportation should be by bike. Biking is both healthy and sustainable but it is also a valuable element in minimising the traffic congestion on the roads in the city centre.
Aarhus Cycling City 2009-2012
Learn more about cycling in Aarhus:
Aarhus City Council adopted in 2007 the ambitious Cycling Action Plan, which should contribute to making it both safer and more attractive for people to bike in Aarhus.
Seven key areas
The goal of the plan was, to get considerably more citizens to choose the bicycle over the car as a means of transportation in Aarhus. This was done by focusing on seven key areas. Those areas are: an interconnected bike route net, better accessibility in inter-sections, better traffic safety as well as bike parking, combinational travelling, operation and maintenance along with information and dialogue.
The result of the Cycling Action Plan is already apparent. Aarhus Cycling City has through innovative projects and unconventional campaigns challenged the transport patterns of many citizens- and have done so with great success.
The number of cyclists in the municipality has now increased with 18 per cent within the last four years. Since the Cycling Action Plan was adopted, more than 3000 attractive bike parking spaces have been set up and new cycle routes and cycle paths have been created. In addition new traffic signs, several air pumps and bicycle barometers have been put up. Also in the winter time, snow clearing has been intensified on the bike paths throughout the city, for a safer bike ride in the cold season.
Altogether more than 150 million DKK have been invested in bicycle promotion over the past years. Plans for the future include the construction of 2 new bicycle superhighways, a bicycle parking house at the main train station with a capacity of 2.000 parking places and 3 fully automated bicycle parking towers as known from Japan.
Even though many cycling-conscious initiatives have been implemented with great succes, Aarhus still needs to improve the bike-infrastructure of the municipality and go through with other initiatives and projects intended to help the cycling traffic. This will be addressed in a revised cycling action plan.
Aarhus municipality aims towards being CO2-neutral before 2030. In the climate strategy of the city, it is amongst others specified that the infrastructure of Aarhus should always secure optimal conditions for the bicyclists through various bike-conscious initiatives and projects thus making Aarhus known as an international bike city.