More to learn from Copenhagen on making a city bikeable for all

I have spent a lot of time in my professional life trying to sell Texans and Austinites on a vision of life that does not center around the car. Whether it was sharing cars, using a bike for everyday errands, or riding rail, I’ve heard the consistent refrain that “those are great ideas, but you’ll never get Texans to give up their cars.” It seems we Texans have so little imagination that we think driving a car is a genetic trait, not a choice.

There have been times I have felt like throwing in the towel, letting everyone have their automobile induced sprawl in peace, and moving somewhere more developed on the cycling path. Then, I read a little more about Copenhagen in Jan Gehl and Lars Gemzøe’s book Public Spaces, Public Life: Copenhagen, and I feel our city and our country has some hope. It turns out when the city of Copenhagen began a program of creating bicycle infrastructure and closing streets and squares to car traffic, they ran into a similar objections. Many said “We are Danes, not Italians” and “Using public space is contrary to the Nordic mentality.” It seemed just as with Texans it was just not in the personality of the Danes to make places for people instead of cars, and yet today Copenhagen is one of the most bikeable, walkable cities on the planet. From World War II to the early 1970s, making concessions in public space to the parking and driving automobiles as fast as possible were the norm. Today, cars are banned in most of the town squares and on several major streets and 37% of Copenhagen residents bike to work with another 1/3rd taking public transit. Copenhagen has the distinction of having the least amount of traffic congestion of any city of its size in the Western World.

Living in an Austin where only 1/3rd of us drive a car to work is more than a little hard to image. Most of us say we want to be green, but when push comes to shove, we turn the motor over on our 2 ton steeds. Here’s where Copenhagen’s example is most helpful: When they started, no one could image the bike and pedestrian majority of today. Forward thinking planners began with small improvements such as closing a street to traffic here, banning parking in a square there, and putting in bike paths along roads elsewhere. It has taken 40 years of small gradual changes within a broader vision to make this a reality.

Last year we passed an ambitious Master Bicycle Plan and the current discussion over the Nueces Bike Boulevard is the first major step in making the goals of that plan a reality. Those who do not want to spend the money or divert the space from cars in the coming weeks, months, and years will make the argument that bikes are all fine a good, but that we can not do anything to reduce automobile capacity. They will say these ideas are pie in the sky and that most people will never give up their cars. When they do, point to Copenhagen and let them know people will not give up their cars unless we give them an alternative. Building more roads will only create more traffic, but building great public space will get people out of cars and onto our streets. That will mean better lives for all of us.

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