You’d think designing bicycle and pedestrian bridges was a no brainer in the world’s best cycling city. After decades of amazing progress in expanding the bicycle network, the City of Copenhagen started to slip up. Here are the three latest bicycle and pedestrian bridges in Copenhagen – and why they are not all what they’re hyped up to be.
Link to the article in ArchDaily: https://www.archdaily.com/868904/copenhagens-latest-piece-of-cycle-infrastructure-is-a-stupid-stupid-bridge
0:00 Bridge # 1 – Inderhavnsbroen / Inner Harbour Bridge
7:00 Bridge # 2 – Lille Langebro
10:31 A good example of a bicycle bridge – Bryggebroen and Cykelslangen
12:23 Bridge #3 – Dybbølsbro
16:00 Outro
28 Comments
haha cph is a failure
for the last one I have this saying,
if a couple people are running a red light they are stupid, but if most people do it the traffic light is stupid
The last bridge with that intersection just made me furious as a Dutchman
Architects are the smartest and best designers of things, just ask one of them.
Also, it's a steep entrance on that snake in Dybbølsbro, so when you cycle from the south, it's quite challenging.
I passed through the first bridge on a visit to Denmark recently. I was amazed at the amount of cyclists passing by and recorded for a while, then a nice Danish man asked me if I knew if they were going to raise the bridge. That led us to an entire conversation about city design and bicycle use in comparison to the US.
Funnily enough they were doing repair work on the bridge on that day
As a Canadian tourist not familiar with the city I found biking on Bridge #3 very confusing because rules a completely different then any other intersection. Makes no logical sense to have an intersection that works(doesn't work) completely different to any other in the city. After watching this I no longer feel bad about being confused when using it. Biking on Bridge #1 was just plain dangerous and I imagine even more so when there is rain, snow or ice. Bridge #2 has two advantages over Langebro bridge, no high amount of vehicle traffic right next to you zooming by and being able to get off right after the water end instead of continuing on for another block or so or having to take your bike down or up stairs if for example I want to get on Balvebod Brygge road. I found Langebro bridge unpleasant to use with all the vehicles and noise.
Great videos thanks! And what about that awful enormous grayish-black block of a building in the back ground of most of your shots? Looks like it was designed by "Death Star design & Construction LLC" with Darth Vader as project head. It has absolutely no communication of any kind to the other buildings around it – no similar design features, its grotesque size absolutely ruins the view of the otherwise delightful historic center. Make a video about this please!!!
Love the video. Took the bridge hundreds of times, always amazed by the stupidity of the design. Especially the landing point on Nyhavn, so dangerous. Already witnessed a couple of epic crashes. But man you are so soft on Paris and so tough with Copenhagen which is just perfect (the crazy bridge is the exception confirming the rule man …)
I love Lille Langibro ! Great addition especially the connection with Vester Voldgade on the other side. We frequenty use the bridge when cycling from Frederiksberg to Christianshavn or back from Islandsbrygge.
Dybblesbro : fully agree. Sucks 1000 times. Always hacking the recommended path. Never tried the diagonal though ahaahah
As a Polish person I can agree on our lack of bicycle culture.
It was super annoying to have to suddenly shift down to get over that bridge but its better than any bike route anywhere in NYC for sure.
Come to India. We don't even have sidewalk. XD
Can you make video on 100 things wrong with Indian urban planning. That will be great and funny.
you realise the steepness of the bridge only at 6:05 when he sits down! and how fast the bikes coming down on!
Give it another year: Felon Muskrat will reinvent this bridge, for the first time, and call it the Hyperbridge or Xbridge, and take credit for it & media will give him hundreds of free interviews & investors will shower him with millions of $, and then he'll never deliver, and walk away with their money.
excellent
I actually experienced my most dangerous situations by bike on and around that first bridge… 😂
First of all, I like Mikael. Especially other urbanist videos. I had a good laugh now. Ha-ha! These bridges are not steep. Copenhagen cannot ignore its weather. Budapest also has a period when the Danube is frozen, but the sunlit bridge surface is ten degrees. Only this period is different and shorter than in Copenhagen. You should come and see our bike tour. A sudden turn? Is it sharp? I don't know if Mikael knows, Budapest and especially the Buda side is a mountainous area. Anyone can accelerate to 50 km/h and be on their way! Don't let anyone be a fool! I don't know if that bridge could have been planned for a straight line, or if it's just the design, then there could be some error here, but in most cases this is not even possible, due to the pattern of the streets. Although Copenhagen is a flat settlement, the urban fabric was formed a long time ago. It is clearly visible that it is a design method favorable to cyclists. It is a fact that in most places in the world you have to make compromises. It is not possible to expect them to design and transform everything in a non-conceptual way, as in the US car infrastructure. True, they have advantages there too. They really reduce accidents, you just have to plan everything for the mass of those vaccinated against driving.
as a Canadian (which has almost no bike infra in its car-infested ugly cities), I'll take bridge no question asked, please give us half of that bridge
Come on, watching your videoes,,,, you just hate urban devolpment… how the fuc should it be less step? it´s a bridge,, it´s probably gonna go over sometthing
I like this guy. He is very Danish in his criticism of Danish decisions
15:15 And is how it is today if anyone is interested and doesn't know. They changed it. We just go diagonally.
Imagine that is how they build all bicycles lanes in Poland 🙁 Ride them every they.
You should discuss Papirøen. Still blows my minds that something this ugly and high-rising was allowed right on the most central canal of the city.
According to google maps there is a diagonal bike lane through that intersection now. Would love to hear your perspective on the new design!!
Luckily the city recently fixed the last example with the crossing. So now the bikes have their own lane and light across (like shown at 15:20). But the rest is still a mess lol