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Europe’s Longest Bicycling Tunnel Opens in Norway

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Re: Europe’s Longest Bicycling Tunnel Opens in Norway

#121

Rotherhithe tunnel in London screams to be repurposed this way -- to become "colorfully lit, art-lined" thing where psychologists give input on how to make it more welcoming

Yeah, London needs more pedestrian/cycle options to cross the Thames - it’s a huge barrier in some areas.

For example, a tunnel (or bridge!) between Canary Wharf and the Rotherhithe peninsula, replacing the existing passenger ferry, would have huge economic benefits by encouraging development of a relatively under-developed area.

The Greenwich foot tunnel is a great asset, and despite not being very cycle-friendly is very popular with cyclists too.

Re: Europe’s Longest Bicycling Tunnel Opens in Norway

#122

Rotherhithe tunnel in London screams to be repurposed this way -- to become "colorfully lit, art-lined" thing where psychologists give input on how to make it more welcoming

I'd be very very surprised if this became reality. There's no political force to make actual improvements in London, or in the UK as a whole.

Re: Europe’s Longest Bicycling Tunnel Opens in Norway

#123
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why can't we support and encourage cycling without vilifying cars in these threads? Because cars pollute the air I breath, car horns constantly stress me, because politicians and city planners will use cars as a justification to develop cities as asphalt wastelands, because pedestrians and bikers are killed daily by unruly car drivers and so on. Plus somehow cars manage to bring out the worst in every person. Road…

One absurd but conventionally normal thing is that cities have to build wider streets just because car drivers will inevitably transform them into parking lots, on both sides, halving their width. Old streets often seem narrow, but they aren't really narrow when they aren't full of parked cars.

It would be lovely to see parked cars disappear if autonomous cars become common enough. However, that would also rely on people deciding against car ownership and moving over to a shared vehicle model.

Re: Europe’s Longest Bicycling Tunnel Opens in Norway

#124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People might use cars or public transport instead of a bike to commute if there is heavy rain or snow. This is an important consideration in Bergen which is notoriously the rainiest city in Europe (it rains more than half the time).

So there are places in Europe where it rains more than in UK?

[deleted]

Re: Europe’s Longest Bicycling Tunnel Opens in Norway

#125
post #57

I'm jealous. If my country built a tunnel like that, it would be for cars only (preferably old polluting diesel, with fuel subsidies), so that "normal people" can use it. With an added whiff of coal power plant smoke. Oh well. Growing civilized takes time.

Sounds a lot like Central or Eastern Europe. I'm optimistic and believe that in about 10 to 15 years you will have caught up with Western European pedestrian and cycle infrastructure. You might even surpass them due to first-mover disadvantage.

Re: Europe’s Longest Bicycling Tunnel Opens in Norway

#126

Why can't we support and encourage cycling without vilifying cars in these threads? I've seen plenty of places that do both very well, like Spain. Everybody has a car and bicycle (at least one) and uses whatever fits the purpose at the time. I get it, when there's not cycling infrastructure everybody is forced to take the car even if it doesn't make any sense, like for short trips, good weather, single passenger, no…

because cars pollute, produce a lot of noise, take a lot of space when not used(so majority of time), infra for them is expensive(roads and parkings) and it should be maintained frequently and bc of them a lot of people die (at least where average speed is >30km/h) I'm fine with electric motorcycles that are speed limited by design and have slower start acceleration by design, this would be really nice

Re: Europe’s Longest Bicycling Tunnel Opens in Norway

#127
post #82
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A colleague of mine applied to the university of Bergen. At the interview, they gave him a promotional gift: an umbrella.

While everybody in Norway (including the citizens of Bergen) like to quip about the Bergen downpour, it really isn't that bad. Annual precipitation is approx. 2,500mm, distributed over some 230 days. The wettest place in Norway, on average, is Brekke a couple of hours north of Bergen, receiving some 3,500mm annually. As I used to say when living in Bergen if a tourist asked me if it always rained there - 'No idea, I'…

The Netherlands is already considered somewhat of a wet country, and I think it normally stays under 1000mm per year. So 8 months of 10mm per day seems more than a bit damp.

Re: Europe’s Longest Bicycling Tunnel Opens in Norway

#129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There's also the abusive drivers that shout at you and beep their horn at you Yep, happened to me. Also there is a 'compulsive overtaking syndrome' where a driver feels they must overtake the bicycle even if you are exceeding the speed limit on your bicycle. Even if there is not enough space.

The technical term for that is MGIF (Must Get In Front). It's especially bizarre when there's queueing traffic just ahead, so they overtake and then you almost immediately filter past them. It seems as though they're not able to look ahead and anticipate their own progress.

My absolute favorite (deep-fried sarcasm here) part of this is when they overtake and then slow down below your speed - regardless if you're driving or cycling.

As if it was somehow tiring for the car or something.

Re: Europe’s Longest Bicycling Tunnel Opens in Norway

#130
Sewer tunnels are 0.1% of the cost of car tunnels, for a wide variety of reasons both good and bad.

Elon Musk's The Boring Company is trying to take advantage of this to make car tunnels cheaper.

This is a much better idea. Cycling tunnels are much smaller, don't need to deal with exhaust, have fewer emergency scenarios, ...

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