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Infrastructure Minister Tomas Eneroth (S) came out with the news on Thursday.
– You can introduce cycle lanes in places where it is not appropriate to draw a cycle lane. We can get a better and more flexible bike infrastructure that leads more people to choose to ride bikes, he says.
Tomas Eneroth. Image: Amir Nabizadeh / TT
How much effect do you think this will have?
– I think it is an important signal for all those who want to promote bicycle traffic in the municipalities. It is a tool in urban planning when it comes to prioritizing cycling, says Eneroth.
He also hopes the reform will help ease public transportation.
READ MORE: Reduced cycling – contrary to objective
New road signs
It will be voluntary for municipalities to introduce bike lanes, which are primarily intended for dense urban environments. The new type of street will have its own traffic sign and its own traffic rules. In addition to the 30 limit, street parking is prohibited (except in marked parking spaces) and drivers entering the bike lane are required to yield. Violations of the speed limit or of the duty to give way are punished with a fine.
Two new traffic signs are introduced: “bike street” and “stop bike street”.
– Very gratifying news, thinks Malin Månsson, cycling strategist at the Gothenburg traffic office.
Why?
– We got another tool in the bicycle infrastructure. Facilitates communication with road users on the street. With the new poster we can make clear what function the street has.
Bike lanes can be remarked
Gothenburg has built so-called cycle streets in some places in the city, such as Västra Hamngatan and Redbergsvägen. They received a lot of criticism when they were new, from road users who thought that the idea of mixed traffic did not work in practice.
Cykelfartsgata does not exist as a legal concept and therefore there are no state road signs to use. Traffic rules are the same as on public roads.
Malin Månsson shows one of the city’s bike lanes. Stock Photography. Photo: Thomas Johansson
Now this seems to be changing. Malin Månsson does not want to say anything definitive, but thinks it “feels logical” that current cycle lanes are marked as cycle lanes.
READ MORE: Gothenburg receives a terrible rating as a cycling city
– So some other lanes might be suitable for conversion to bike lanes. But we need to discuss this further.
No to local variants
Tomas Eneroth, for his part, is not particularly fond of local concepts along with national rules. He doesn’t want to comment on Gothenburg’s bike lanes specifically, but he says:
-I want order and order and predictability. I have reacted before when Stockholm started applying its own rules for cycling. It is important that we have a common set of rules, it is not good if we get many local variants.
As of December 1, the country’s municipalities will be able to install bike lanes.
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