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 | Apr 12, 2024
Popular Denver e-bike voucher program aids carbon reduction goals
Denver’s e-bike voucher program that helps citizens pay for e-bikes, a component of the city’s carbon reduction plan, has proven extremely popular with residents. Earlier this year, Denver’s effort to get residents to swap some motor vehicle trips for bike trips ran out of vouchers in less than 10 minutes after the program opened to online applications.
Urban Planning | Apr 12, 2024
New York City’s safest year for pedestrians due to concerted effort of street redesign, speed restrictions
In 2023, New York City recorded its safest year for pedestrians since record-keeping began in 1910. In a city of 8.5 million people, 101 deaths were due to vehicles striking pedestrians, less than one-third the number of the early 1990s. New York City ramped up its efforts to make walking and biking safer in 2014 when the city reduced its speed limit to 25 miles per hour.
Codes and Standards | Apr 8, 2024
Boston’s plans to hold back rising seawater stall amid real estate slowdown
Boston has placed significant aspects of its plan to protect the city from rising sea levels on the actions of private developers. Amid a post-Covid commercial development slump, though, efforts to build protective infrastructure have stalled.
Mixed-Use | Apr 4, 2024
Sustainable mixed-use districts: Crafting urban communities
As a part of the revitalization of a Seattle neighborhood, Graphite Design Group designed a sustainable mixed-use community that exemplifies resource conversation, transportation synergies, and long-term flexibility.
Codes and Standards | Mar 18, 2024
New urban stormwater policies treat rainwater as a resource
U.S. cities are revamping how they handle stormwater to reduce flooding and capture rainfall and recharge aquifers. New policies reflect a change in mindset from treating stormwater as a nuisance to be quickly diverted away to capturing it as a resource.
Urban Planning | Mar 17, 2024
A new report surveys city dwellers about urban living
Architects are rethinking the city of the future in terms of relieving resident challenges.
MFPRO+ Special Reports | Feb 22, 2024
Crystal Lagoons: A deep dive into real estate's most extreme guest amenity
These year-round, manmade, crystal clear blue lagoons offer a groundbreaking technology with immense potential to redefine the concept of water amenities. However, navigating regulatory challenges and ensuring long-term sustainability are crucial to success with Crystal Lagoons.
Urban Planning | Feb 5, 2024
Lessons learned from 70 years of building cities
As Sasaki looks back on 70 years of practice, we’re also looking to the future of cities. While we can’t predict what will be, we do know the needs of cities are as diverse as their scale, climate, economy, governance, and culture.
Healthcare Facilities | Jan 7, 2024
Two new projects could be economic catalysts for a central New Jersey city
A Cancer Center and Innovation district are under construction and expected to start opening in 2025 in New Brunswick.
Sustainability | Jan 2, 2024
Los Angeles has plan to improve stormwater capture and source 80% of water locally
Los Angeles County’s Board of Supervisors voted for a plan to improve stormwater capture with a goal of capturing it for local reuse. The plan aims to increase the local water supply by 580,000 acre-feet per year by 2045.
