Publication
Cycle superhighways
| Summary: | Only 8% of the European Union residents use bicycle to commute, being the Netherlands the country with the biggest representativeness in bicycle use for everyday activities. Meanwhile in Portugal only 1% of the population use bikes for daily commutes, being the car, the most common mode of transport used by its residents. Even if there is no expressive use of bicycles in most European countries, the benefits of this mode of transportation are well known. Starting from the health benefits, as bicycling is considered a physical activity, what lower people’s body fat and decreases the risk of diabetes, hypertension and some kinds of cancers, to the environmental benefits of the bicycle, which are related to the reduction of CO2 emissions to the atmosphere. Cycle Superhighways (CS) were thought to be the bicycle connection between cities when people need to commute to work or study. These infrastructures are longer than 5 km and up to 30 km and allow bicyclists to perform higher speeds than the ones practiced in cities. The CS can be placed alongside highways or in totally different sites, but the basis is that bicycles have their own space away from cars and pedestrians to make inter-cities displacements. Successful examples from the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany and United Kingdom, will be used to propose a Cycle Highway network to the Minho Region in Portugal to connect work and study sites to homes. This will contribute to make Portugal a cycling nation, as it is proven that CS promote the increase in bicycle use, and an eco-friendly country as well. A use case of CS is proposed to the Minho Region to connect cities, such as Guimarães to Braga, what represents the connection between the two campuses of the University of Minho. Also, the connection by bicycle between Fafe, Guimarães and the site of research AvePark will be proposed. |
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| Main Authors: | Dias, Gabriel José Cabral |
| Subject: | Bicycle Cycling Cycle superhighway Portugal Bicicleta Ciclismo Cycle superhighways |
| Year: | 2019 |
| Country: | Portugal |
| Document type: | master thesis |
| Access type: | open access |
| Associated institution: | Universidade do Minho |
| Language: | English |
| Origin: | RepositóriUM - Universidade do Minho |
| Summary: | Only 8% of the European Union residents use bicycle to commute, being the Netherlands the country with the biggest representativeness in bicycle use for everyday activities. Meanwhile in Portugal only 1% of the population use bikes for daily commutes, being the car, the most common mode of transport used by its residents. Even if there is no expressive use of bicycles in most European countries, the benefits of this mode of transportation are well known. Starting from the health benefits, as bicycling is considered a physical activity, what lower people’s body fat and decreases the risk of diabetes, hypertension and some kinds of cancers, to the environmental benefits of the bicycle, which are related to the reduction of CO2 emissions to the atmosphere. Cycle Superhighways (CS) were thought to be the bicycle connection between cities when people need to commute to work or study. These infrastructures are longer than 5 km and up to 30 km and allow bicyclists to perform higher speeds than the ones practiced in cities. The CS can be placed alongside highways or in totally different sites, but the basis is that bicycles have their own space away from cars and pedestrians to make inter-cities displacements. Successful examples from the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany and United Kingdom, will be used to propose a Cycle Highway network to the Minho Region in Portugal to connect work and study sites to homes. This will contribute to make Portugal a cycling nation, as it is proven that CS promote the increase in bicycle use, and an eco-friendly country as well. A use case of CS is proposed to the Minho Region to connect cities, such as Guimarães to Braga, what represents the connection between the two campuses of the University of Minho. Also, the connection by bicycle between Fafe, Guimarães and the site of research AvePark will be proposed. |
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