Good Cycling Facility of the Week: 11th February 2016

This week's Good Facility is a cycle street (fietsstraat) in the city of Zwolle in the Netherlands.

The most important detail with this kind of arrangement is a low level of motor traffic. This street is one-way for drivers of motor vehicles, and leads only as an access route to a small number of residential streets.

At the same time this street is an important direct connection into the city centre from the south of the city, passing under the railway line through a cycle-only underpass. This directness means it is a busy cycle route (as can be seen in the photograph).

Fietsstraats are safe and attractive environments not because drivers are asked to modify their behaviour, but because they are designed to have very few motor vehicles using them, while simultaneously forming a useful part of cycle networks.