Netherlands vs USA Cycling: Is Dutch Infrastructure Really That Good?

This summer I moved from Minneapolis, USA to the Netherlands. As a cyclist I was curious if the renowned Dutch infrastructure was really that good. After four months, this is what I learned….

The Netherlands is renowned for its exceptional cycling infrastructure. As an avid cyclist myself, this was a big draw when I considered where to immigrate to earlier this year. I’ve been largely car-free the last couple years that I lived in the US, giving me a basis for comparison to the Netherlands. So, let’s have a look at what it’s like in both countries. I made an effort to go car-free 2 and 1/2 years ago in the US. I got my first newmobile and I wanted more time to ride it. So, I started commuting and running errands by mobile. This radically altered my perspective on transport in the US and the challenges posed by increasing vehicle sizes and distracted drivers. I outfitted my velmo bills with bright lights and learned to choose my routes and travel times carefully to avoid dangerous intersections and especially heavy traffic. Amazingly, it actually worked for me. Yes, I had some close calls, but because I was riding defensively and had a pretty loud horn, I was lucky enough not to get hit. I was able to get most everywhere in the Minneapolis suburbs by bike, but not everywhere in the US has this kind of infrastructure. Rural US areas can be quite a challenge. There are fewer roads and the less trafficked roads aren’t always even paved. The further south you go in the US, the more driver attitudes can become negative towards cyclists. Reading comments on online posts of Elmobile sightings and cyclist related posts, you get a window into the cyclistating mentality of certain sectors of the population. Some of the comments frankly could be pursued in court as death threats to cyclists. It can be disheartening and downright alarming. But enough about the US. Let’s talk about the Netherlands. I ended up buying a house and cash in rural Salem. Knowing what the lack of cyclist friendly infrastructure is like in the rural US, I wasn’t sure what I could expect here. I was shocked when I arrived to look at houses to find that every main road has a beautiful bike path next to it. long, smooth, flat bike paths in rural area. I ended up in a very small village, a little more than 3 mi or 5 km from the nearest town with shopping. When doing recon, I discovered that there was bike path going in three directions from my house, east, west, and south. Now, the bike path isn’t in perfect shape, but it has hardly any road crossings and will take me all the way into the neighboring towns without ever sharing the road with cars. In town, the roads are narrow and have traffic calming measures along with being brick. So, even though you’re riding with cars, no one’s driving quickly, and there’s enough bike traffic that cars are used to watching for and yielding to cyclists. Now that I’ve had a chance to explore the area, I found I can ride on bike path to basically any town in Zealand. All the main roads have bike path along them and often service roads as well with almost no traffic. I can ride to and along the entire beach and the river delta. I can ride directly to the ferry and bike path and to any of the transit hubs as well. Even in Belgium, I can get to the larger cities near me entirely on bike path and the occasional rural road where you’re more likely to meet a tractor than a car. Zaland is the least densely populated part of the Netherlands, though. So, what’s it like elsewhere? I found the cities here to be quite easy to navigate. I found green corridor routes through Rotterdam that are quiet, scenic, and pretty fast. Utreak is known for its cycle infrastructure and Amsterdam has more bike than car traffic. That said, there are areas where there is little to no bike path. The Kunahar is one such area. The narrow roads between the canals only have room for one car, so no one’s driving fast. There’s no room for bike path, and it’s actually quite safe, though rather slow to cycle through there. There’s a lot more to the Netherlands that I haven’t explored yet. But looking at cycling maps, you can get a really good idea of just how extensive the cycling infrastructure is. It’s nearly everywhere and new infrastructure is still being built, particularly in Belgium to the south of me, another country that should be better known for its cycling infrastructure. The Netherlands is everything I expected as a cyclist and frankly more. There’s a very good reason my new home country is studied worldwide for its approach to cycling infrastructure. It really is that good here. It’s taken the stress out of riding for me and allowed me to return to having a meditative experience every time I ride. I love that and I never want to go back to the stressful cycling I experienced in the US. It wasn’t always like this in the Netherlands though. It had to be advocated for and a significant financial investment made. Other countries can achieve this type of infrastructure too, at least in more densely populated areas. So get out there and start advocating for better cycling infrastructure. It won’t happen unless people speak up for it. As always, thanks for watching. Remember to like and subscribe, and I’ll see you in the next video.