Cycling and Dutch national infrastructure book
The Cycling and Dutch national infrastructure book is an attempt to draw attention to inspiring project insights and opportunities for cycling as a viable mode of transport for employees involved in projects at national level. Its aim is to inspire: Rijkswaterstaat's aim is for cycling to be incorporated in decisions relating to national-level infrastructure as a matter of course.
That is one of the stipulations of the Paris Climate Agreement and is part of the evolving policy aims of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management. This book with national-level project insights is a contribution to that.
This is the concised English version of the originally Dutch book, offering insights and inspiration to an international audience of Transportation Authorities, Departements, decision makers and other professionals who are involved in developing (large) infrastructural projects.
Dutch examples
The examples in this book are unique and specific to the Dutch context, presenting deep insights in Dutch infrastructure planning and design process. It also demonstrates different ways and strategies how multiple agencies, governments and other public and private organisations can succesfully collaborate. The lessons learned could be useful to consider in other countries, contexts and projects. This book is not specifically about bicycling infrastructure projects, but about an integrated and holistic approach how to improve the transportation system as a whole by tapping into the potential of the bicycle as a serious means of transport.
This book paints a picture of the aim and nature of the project examples, and the way in which cycling played a part in them through interviews, photos and diagrams. The projects are a source of inspiration as they demonstrate the specific measures (for cyclists), plus lessons relating to cooperation, formulation of the measures and how they work in practice. What was needed in order to incorporate cycling in the project? What benefit does that have?
The book is made up of a number of sections:
- First a general section on the role and significance of cycling in the Netherlands.
- Then an overview and a summary of the project examples.
- Finally a section on the projects themselves.
In order to make the extensive content of this book more accessible to the reader, there is a reading guide explaining the structure of the project chapters. The reading guide can be found on page 21.
This book is part of the series of best practices of the Dutch Cycling Embassy. You can find them of on their Best Practices Page.