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– We plan to put it a little in the tip, so that cyclists can also participate and pay. It’s always the motorists who have to pay, and it’s time cyclists felt it too, says campaign leader Tone Brit Nystrøm in Bomfritt Rogaland to Dagbladet.
Thus, during Sunday afternoon they got to work and set up two false toll stations along the 3.8 kilometers that are currently open to bicycle traffic.
– madness
The bike path is scheduled to be completed in 2023, and will run 13 kilometers between Stavanger and Sandnes, it is priced at around NOK 1.4 billion. The project, which has been called Sykkelstamveien, is the first of its kind in Norway.
– Spending so much money on a bike path, as we call it, is political folly, believes Nystrøm.
– We have no problem with it being designed for cyclists, but it is the price we react to. The bike path is thinner than the highway and the roads are in ruins.
Sandnesposten and NRK have already covered the case.
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– vandalism
Communication advisor Øyvind Ellingsen from the Norwegian Public Roads Administration believes the bike barrier stunt is a form of vandalism.
– It is a form of vandalism, because we get a small extra expense by removing the barriers. We are now in the process of removing them and driving them away, he told Dagbladet on Monday afternoon.
However, he believes that it is a moderate form of protest.
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– They should be allowed to express their views on the road like everyone else, but it is possible to find other ways to do it, he says, adding:
– But it’s funny that they have worked hard to make the barriers quite nice. I heard some riders thought it was a reality, he laughs.
No tolls
– Do you understand that some people think that it is a very high price for a bike lane?
– First of all, it is important for me to point out that this road is not financed by tolls. It is funded by the state. Second, this is the first cycle lane in Norway that was built to be able to maintain high speed and was built for safety, he says.
– What people also forget is that it is not the asphalt that is put on top that costs, but for example that you have to move things like electricity, and that you have to rescue that property. This makes it more expensive to build roads in an environment close to the city center.
When the trail is finished, it will take about half an hour to bike between the two cities.
– This is a section where the road network today is very congested, with a lot of traffic, and this will alleviate both the environment and the traffic, he says.