Summary of Final Project and Final Reflections

For my final project, I am writing about the topics of small infrastructure amenities and infrastructure that drives behavior. These are the two things that stood out the most to me during my time spent in Copenhagen, Malmo, and the Netherlands. Our study abroad group will be compiling all of our final projects into a website that will be accessible to everyone, and I will update this post with the link when we all finish.

The Little Things

Small infrastructure additions that make commuting on a bike a bit easier:

• Foot rests & Stair ramps
• Foot rests: so that you don't have to get off your bike at a stoplight
• Stair ramps: used to take your bike up and down the stairs with bristles (going down) or assist (going up) 
• Both easy to implement
• Makes people on bikes feel more welcome and prioritized
• Trash Cans
• Angled and at the perfect height for cyclists
• Reduces litter (cleaner bike paths) and reduces the amount of things people need to hold while riding
• Yellow lights (before the red light and before the green light)
• People know the green is coming and can get on their bikes
• Helps people have a smoother and faster commute
• Grade-change protection & Asphalt where you need it
• The protection helps people feel safer; it's more than a painted line
• The asphalt makes it easy to reach destinations while keeping the protection

These are all simple changes that are relatively easy and cheap to implement, and they make people feel more safe and welcome when riding a bike to their destination.

Infrastructure that Drives Behavior

• Narrow Streets & Speed Bumps
• Drivers are forced to slow down when the streets are narrowed; keeping street parking could help with this
• Speed bumps "tell" people to yield at intersections instead of signs
• Continuous sidewalks
• Reinforces pedestrian right of way
• Drivers see that they are crossing a sidewalk rather than pedestrians crossing a street
• Curb Extensions at Intersections
• Forces people to slow down and look for pedestrians/cyclists before/while turning
• Provides more public space or space for businesses
• The Fietsstraat
• The color red signals that bikes are priority and cars are guests
• Made possible with the infrastructure and the education/culture (hardware and software)

All in all, the infrastructure forces drivers to behave instead of signs that they can ignore or infrastructure that contradicts those signs.

Final Reflection

I am super grateful to Marc Schlossberg for allowing me to have this wonderful experience learning about planning cities for people on bikes abroad and I feel like it has really solidified my decision to go into planning. Seeing all of the successes and failures of these cities has been such a great learning experience and I'm so glad I got to be part of it when I'm not even a planning major and everything I learn about planning and bicycle transportation is done in my own free time. Everyone in this group has motivated me to change the US and bring back these concepts we've all learned about; everyone's final projects were so eye opening to what types of streets could be redesigned either with rural infrastructure or simply adding raised crosswalks. I will forever cherish this experience and I am so lucky to have been able to do this and meet so many wonderful people on the way, whether it was all of my west coast friends who ensured I wasn't left out, or the kind strangers we got to talk to about their opinions on planning projects. I feel so ready to take action with what I have learned and to seek out new opportunities (wish I had LiveMove in MD!!) and am very excited for when I am able to get my master's in planning and learn more about all of this fascinating stuff!!!!

Utrecht Reflection

Positives

A bike locked above a canal

Utrecht has the same good quality bike infrastructure as Amsterdam, but it is a quieter city and we got to see more suburbs here. There were still grade-protected cycle tracks, protected and raised crossings, traffic calming, and an incredible bike network, and the only thing that was a bit different was the amount of two-way bike lanes and cobblestone bike lanes.

A more residential part of Utrecht

The less dense suburbs (which are still way more dense than American suburbs) still have protected and connected infrastructure and are close enough to train stations that the bike-to-train connection is still really effective. The suburbs are where you can see most of the two-way lanes, and as someone who wasn't a big fan of the two-way lanes in Malmo, I surprisingly enjoyed them here. The main reason it works better here is because the lanes are wider than in Malmo and because here the pedestrian infrastructure is not lacking. The two-way lanes are also very connected to one way lanes and easily readable so you know where you're supposed to be and you will never get spit out onto a road with no bike infrastructure at all.

A walkable street

The city is not only bikeable, but it is much more walkable than any other city we've been to thus far. There are some streets that people pretty much take over as pedestrian streets, with the occasional bike passing through. On the weekends, they are filled with people and small shops popping up. 

Emma and Justin cycling next to each other and talking

Social cycling is also much more accepted here and in pretty much any cycle track you are able to cycle next to one or two people. This is possible because the cycle tracks are a bit wider than many of those in the other cities, and because people will easily go around you without getting angry; anything works with the flow of biking in the Netherlands!

Negatives

Cobblestone cycle tracks

The cobblestone cycle tracks are one of my two qualms with Utrecht. In the city center everything is old so there's a lot of cobblestone, which can be pretty annoying on your commute and has even caused me to drop things off of my bike due to all of the bumps. Maybe I just have to get used to it, but it seems like a lot of the bike lanes with cobblestone could easily be smoothed over.

A public space where all of the seating is business only

The second thing I dislike about Utrecht is how a lot of the public space here is not activated or used well because of its design. Most public plazas are empty with no public seating, just seating for businesses (that they will kick you out of if you don't buy something). Because of this, most of the public space is unused and really lacking the liveliness that could be seen in Amsterdam and even Copenhagen.

Adventures with Ronald

Ronald with me and Emma in our Utrecht bike shirts

Ronald is the coolest Dutch person ever (and he's a foamer like us!!) and he took off work for our entire week in Utrecht to show us around and show us the work that he and others have done to make the city more bikeable.

Utrecht Centraal Bike Parking Garage

The pathway through the bike parking (top) & the bike parking (bottom)

The bike parking garage in Utrecht Centraal Station was huge and a safe and covered way for people to park their bikes while they ride the train. Additionally, there is a bike path through it so you can ride right through or ride until you need to get off and park your bike. There is also a bike service station including mechanics and a pump for if your tires need air. 

Houten

Me in Houten

Because watching youtube videos about Houten was what eventually led me to finding this program, it was pretty special to be able to see it for myself and ride through part of it.

A map of Houten

The idea is really interesting: there's two ring roads for cars, so it's shaped like an 8, and every street inside of those rings is either a fietsstraat or a cycle path, and the only car traffic is residential. It was pretty quiet for mid-day on a Friday, but once we went into the older part of it there were more people. It was pretty cool to see a suburban place that was a lot more dense than the American suburbs, with shopping areas and train stations so close and easily bikeable, but still with the peace and quiet people want from the suburbs and a lot of green space.

People cycling through Houten

The best thing about Houten was that a lot of the cycle tracks were completely isolated from roads, so people on bikes were directly connected to places they needed to go, instead of following the roads that cars take. It also made it a lot easier for people in wheelchairs to get around, and I was able to see a lot of wheelchair users going somewhere on the more isolated paths. 

Speed bumps for motorbikes on the cycle tracks

The traffic calming here was really interesting. All of the streets were either fietsstraaten or just bike paths. The fietsstraaten had continuous sidewalks, strips on the side in order to narrow the streets, and rarely any street parking. The bike paths had traffic calming for bromfietsen and snorfietsen with speed bumps that had three parts to them. I probably saw about 95% of people riding bikes to get around, and the 5% of drivers that I did see were always behaving and driving slowly. 

The bike roundabout

One of the cool bike infrastructure parts of Houten was a roundabout for bikes. It was made fully of bike paths and served as a traffic calming device for bicycle users instead of an intersection. 

The bike parking in the Houten train station

Houten was also easily connected to its train station by bike, and the bike parking was right under the train platforms so all you had to do was park your bike and walk up the stairs to take a train wherever you needed to go. 

Trees lining a cycle path

The suburb was also very connected to nature, as there were canals and trees all around and you could hear the birds chirping and see other animals. This is probably because these are large areas for animals to live where there aren't roads and cars fragmenting their habitats, and because bike paths are so much smaller than roads that they were able to keep much more of the nature intact.

Cycling through Houten

Some people have told me that Houten is "cultish" or haven't liked it, and I guess I'm biased because it is an important milestone in my journey to be sitting here in Utrecht writing this blog post, but I also disagree. I think that people want a quieter suburban neighborhood without the chaos of a city, and to provide everything people need on a daily basis with bike and pedestrian access makes it so much easier, safer, and healthier for people to run their errands. It is also very easy to bike to the city of Utrecht, mostly with a beautiful view, and also very easy to take a train. If I wanted to live in the suburbs, this would be perfect and a safe place that my future children could be independent in. I think it's exactly what people want when they move somewhere quieter with their kids to raise a family, or even if they wanted to be further from Utrecht for work. 

Dafne Schippers Bridge

The bike bridge over a school

This bridge was a super cool use of space because it connected people on bikes to the other side of the water and did so with a bike path on top of a school. It was also very fun to ride up and down on and is another way to make people's commutes more enjoyable.

Utrecht University

A rock wall on the side of the parking garage

The university was very connected by bike and transit, and it was interesting to learn that they are trying to increase the number of trams that run there to 24 each day coming from the US where many of our busses run as little as twice a day. There were also a lot of parking structures, but many of them were used for other things too, such as a rock wall, which reminded me of the parking structure with a gym/playground on top of it in Copenhagen, and was a cool use of space.

Pride cycle path

There was also a cool pride cycle path that was very fun to ride on. I think this says a lot about making people feel welcome to live, learn, and work in the city, whether it is a cycle path making them feel welcome to bike there, or a sign that they are welcome to be who they are.

Fietsknopp

The end of route 81

We were able to follow the bicycle network of paths by their numbers out of Utrecht and ended up going to Zeist and Austerlitz. This was pretty cool because the numbers were very easy to follow and made it so we didn't have to use maps to navigate; all that we did was remember a series of numbers and follow the signs pointing to that number. The only time we got lost is when we stopped using those numbers. I think this would be beneficial in the US to mark safe bicycle routes, whether it's for recreational cycling or commuting as begin to develop a network of safer cycle routes.

Utrecht Compared to Amsterdam

Alleyway bike parking in Utrecht

Originally, I liked Amsterdam better than Utrecht, but now I can't decide which I like better and I wish I could combine the two to make the ultimate biking city. I really like how welcome I feel cycling here and how easy the access is to rural and suburban areas, but Amsterdam has a lot more liveliness and activated public space. In both places the bicycle network is very connected and a high quality way to get somewhere. Overall, I have really enjoyed the Netherlands and I think both of these cities are great. It's super cool to see your expectations exceeded after reading up and watching videos on such a cool place.

Top 5 Insights Thus Far

Here are my top insights after experiencing the bike infrastructure here for almost a month:

Traffic Calming and Infrastructure that Drives Behavior

A speed bump for bromfietsen and snorfietsen

The traffic calming here is very interesting to witness. As a foreigner who doesn't speak the language or understand every sign, it is something that makes to roads accessible for all users. There are continuous sidewalks, extended curbs at intersections, narrower roads, and speed bumps (even for snorfietsen and bromfietsen!) that force everyone to follow the rules. This seems like a no-brainer when you experience it, but it has opened my mind to designing streets in order for people to behave how you want them to, instead of using signs. Doing so can also open up more public space and green space to be used by the surrounding community. This would work in the US, even if we are different from these countries, because it would allow for our neighborhood streets to be calmer and quieter, which is what people want for their kids, as can already be seen with the "children play here" signs in use. Traffic calming infrastructure would work better than those signs because it's not something people can ignore.

Designing Cities for Kids

Kids being independent

In each of the cities we've been to, you can see young children alone walking/biking around and being independent. It is clear that the cities were designed so that they would feel safe enough to explore them and get around, and so their parents wouldn't worry either. There are always recreational activities for them to do and creative playgrounds that show the kids they are welcome here. It's important for us to remember to design cities so that the most vulnerable population (kids) will be safe. If we do this, everyone feels safer on the city streets. This would work in the US because people want their kids to feel safe, and ultimately kids want to be independent and will go out alone whether their parents like it or not, so creating space for kids in cities is important for the kids themselves as well for the less vulnerable people with added safety measures.

Street Redesign

A street that has been redesigned

Another thing that has surprised me is how many of the streets here that have nice traffic calming and bike infrastructure once looked exactly like our streets in US cities: super wide with no bike infrastructure and maybe a broken sidewalk. The people who make the argument that America could never be this country must not understand that the infrastructure here was very similar before street redesign processes took place, and that we can change our streets back home to be safer for everyone as well. None of these countries got it right on the first try, and neither did we, but that doesn't mean we can't change.

The Little Things

A trash can on a cycle track

The small infrastructure amenities that make bike commuting easier in each of these countries are super important to the amount of people that cycle here. It's about making the bike the easiest option to get somewhere, or at least easier than the car, and having things like foot rests, trash cans, and stair ramps help people to make the "lazy" choice of getting on their bike to go to work or the grocery store. This would work in the US because people there are lazy too, and would enjoy a foot rest at a stop, or a trash can so they don't have to hold their trash until they reach one or litter. It also helps to make cyclists feel more welcome and more safe, as if they have a place there, which helps us to design our streets for people instead of cars.

Hardware and Software

A fietsstraat in Houten

Building up the hardware (infrastructure) is just as important as building the software, or the culture of respecting people on bikes and ensuring that they have a safe trip wherever they're going. Approaching it from both sides is how the Dutch have their successful fietsstraaten and rural infrastructure, and a lot of it is because the people in cars cycle places too, so they understand what it's like to be on a bike with a car behind you. Building a culture around bikes can happen with the help of infrastructure, education, and tradition. The software aspect is one of the things I hear most about why US cities "could never be cycling cities;" however, we can develop that culture with education beginning in young children. If those who drive also cycle and know how to be aware and respectful, the streets would be safer for everyone, and who doesn't want safe streets?

Nijmegen Reflection

Though I would've liked to spend more time in Nijmegen and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would, I was only able to spend 2 days there. But, as always, I have some thoughts about the infrastructure and activities I did while I was there.

Bike Infrastructure

A tunnel with a bike path going through it

The bike infrastructure in Nijmegen is a lot more connected than I thought it would be for such a small city, especially navigating our way into the city center while staying somewhat on the outskirts. Most of the bike infrastructure here is either a fietsstraat (a red road where bikes have priority and cars are guests), protected lanes (smooth surface or cobblestones, one-way or two way), or bridges/tunnels. The bridges and tunnels here are really interesting because they provide a safe connection to many places with fully separated bike infrastructure, either going through a tunnel under an important road or train pathway, or a bridge over bodies of water.

A busy cycle intersection

Another thing that surprised me was the amount of people using all of this infrastructure. For some reason I thought that because it's smaller than Amsterdam there would be a lot more people in cars, but the cycle tracks were always full of people, even in the middle of a week day. There were people using the infrastructure outside of the city and within the city, which was super cool to see (if you build it they will come!).

A photo from our first tour on a bridge

During our time in Nijmegen, we were able to go on two tours of the city and surrounding area from planners with two different perspectives, and we were able to see a lot of the infrastructure that makes this city great, as well as some of the failures.

The bike stair ramp in use

The good news from the tours is that Nijmegen has some of the little infrastructure amenities that Amsterdam was lacking in places, like bike trash cans. Another super cool thing was the bike stair ramps that have bristles on the way down so that your heavy bike doesn't force you to run down the stairs, and power on the way up so that you don't have the push your bike up the stairs. 

The ghost bike from the Nijmegen accident

The bad news from the tours were some of the infrastructure and policy failures of Nijmegen. One of the more sad failures was a ghost bike at one intersection where someone was struck and killed by a truck driver. In that intersection, there is not a separated or protected bike lane for cyclists going straight and cars turning right, so they share a lane. In this instance, a truck driver was turning right, and they struck the woman going straight, causing her death. This, and lack of change that is happening because of it, is a reminder that even the Netherlands isn't a perfect utopia, and that every person living anywhere deserves to have infrastructure safe enough that they can get where they're going without risking their life.

Before (top) and after (bottom) the street redesign

Nijmegen has some similar failures to the US, specifically in designing roads to be car-centric. However, many of these roads have now been redesigned to make them safer for the people on bikes and for people walking, instead of more convenient for the cars at the expense of the people. One example was a wide road with black asphalt and narrow sidewalks being turned into a red fietsstraat, narrowed with brick strips on the side (that are small enough so that cyclists don't think they're a bike lane) with continuous and wider sidewalks, permeable street parking, and many speed bumps that have small sections of flat road on either side for cyclists to easily pass through. The street before the redesign looked a lot like a typical American neighborhood street, so this is super valuable in showing us what we can do to make our streets safer back home and a reminder that we can fix what we've done wrong.

Biking to Germany

Our group at the Germany-Netherlands border

Though we took some wrong turns, the bike infrastructure was so connected that we were able to ride all the way to the Germany-Netherlands border (10 miles there, 10 miles back), despite taking a wrong turn and accidentally going on a gravel walking path. 

Riding next to train tracks

This was a really cool experience, and we were riding along old train tracks for most of the way. It was super interesting to see the culture and language shift as we interacted and said good morning to everyone we passed, going from Dutch to German.

A sign showing the connection to the next cycle path

On our way, even as we got closer to Kranenburg, Germany, there was clearly a focus on keeping connected infrastructure for cyclists. When there was construction that caused the cycle path to end, there was a clear sign with directions on the safest way to get to the next section of the separated cycle path.

Biking outside of Nijmegen

Our last activity in Nijmegen was riding to a barbeque at a house in the Dutch suburbs (which happened to be the same day as the Germany ride, so we ended up riding 45 miles that day).

A roundabout with a sign pointing towards Nijmegen

The infrastructure on the way there and back was connected, straight, and protected in places with high traffic levels. There were some places with lower quality bike paths that hadn't been maintained as well, but the majority of the journey was smooth and easy to follow, with signs pointing towards Nijmegen and the fastest route possible having bike infrastructure on it.

An example of a suburban cycle path connecting with a street

The suburban infrastructure was still very connected as well; it was somewhere between the classic Dutch rural design with one lane for cars and two lanes for bikes on either side, some protected/separated lanes, and a fietsstraat, but it definitely works for this level of traffic and there are many people who were using it. The grocery stores and other markets were still very close, unlike in American suburbs, so people use their bikes to run errands, and kids use them to do recreational activities and go to friends' houses. Many people still have cars, but they use the infrastructure there when they can.

The lake in the suburbs

Another thing that was interesting about the Dutch suburbs was the amount of recreational activities to do. One main summer activity in this neighborhood was swimming, because it is near a lake, and it always surprises me how well the space is used here so that people feel like they are allowed to use it. The lake had bike access, bathrooms, and tree cover for people to sit under. While swimming, we asked some locals if they commuted places on bikes and they said they didn't bike a lot, and mostly their parents drove them places (they weren't 18 yet, so they couldn't drive). They did say they biked when they could for short distances, and they biked to the lake to swim, so that's better than getting to most American lakes.

Our group riding back to Nijmegen after swimming in the suburbs

Overall, Nijmegen surprised me with its infrastructure and the use of it by so many people, and I could definitely see it as a goal for US cities at some point when it comes to street redesign. I really wish I could've spent more time there to explore more of the city and see some more infrastructure!

Biking in Amsterdam vs. Copenhagen

After a stressful travel day and the biggest summer storm in Amsterdam history, I wasn't liking Amsterdam too much and I didn't "get" the cycling and infrastructure here compared to how naturally it came to some other people. But, the other day it finally clicked and I had a great day exploring with purpose and understanding things here, so now I feel like I can reflect and compare Amsterdam to Copenhagen.

But first, Clog Bakfiets!

Before I go into the comparison of the systems, I just wanted to show off that I got to ride a clog bakfiets!!

Me riding with Emma (top) and Sydney (bottom) on the clog bakfiets

Observations about the Dutch System

Alexanderplein, an intersection with no traffic lights or stop signs

My first observations about the Dutch system were about the flow of everything. One of our assignments was to obstruct traffic and in doing this I realized that people on bikes and on foot will just flow around you even if you step out in front of them. This is made possible by the low speed of travel and is pretty cool because nobody will get hurt if someone makes a mistake, so it makes the system welcoming to beginners. It also makes it so that they don't necessarily need stop signs or traffic lights at every intersection here because people can yield when needed and flow around each other.

A red painted cycle track

I also thought it was hard to read and get used to the system at first because you're not sure of where you're allowed or supposed to be, but once you figure out that you can be anywhere with red paint, it helps you feel a lot more comfortable. There are also many other people on bikes you can follow to  make sure you're doing the right thing, and as I mentioned above, if you make a mistake people will just flow around you.      

Cobblestones on a bike street

Another thing I noticed is the presence of cobblestones on cycle tracks in much of the city. Some places are smoother than others but I was surprised at how bumpy some of the cycle tracks were. My only guess on why this might be is because many of the bumpy areas were in the city center where there are many pedestrians, so it is to keep cyclists slow enough so that they can stop to let pedestrians cross the street.

A speed bump

Lastly, the thing I notice the most here is the usage of infrastructure to drive behavior. Instead of signage or lights, infrastructure is used to be sure that people follow the rules. For example, on our biking tour, we were told that whichever road has a speed bump coming into an unmarked (no stop signs, yield triangles, or lights) intersection is the road where people are supposed to yield to others, but if you didn't know that rule, you would still be fine because the bump would slow you down enough to yield, which would not have happened if there was just a sign telling you to yield. 

Comparisons between the systems in Amsterdam and Copenhagen

Woman stopped in the middle of a cycle street talking to us; people just went around her

The main difference between the systems is how strict the "rules" are. Copenhagen has rules about how to make a left turn, hand signals you have to use to stop, etc., but Amsterdam has more of a flow where people use body language to communicate what they're doing and their judgement to determine if it's okay to turn left when they want. You can still follow rules in Amsterdam if you want, and use hand signals to signal stopping, but people won't get mad if you don't.

An intersection with no lights or stop signs

There are also a lot more lights and stops in Copenhagen than in Amsterdam, even in the cycle superhighways. Here, you are kept from going on autopilot as you ride because you have to think through intersections, so you will never find yourself forgetting how you got somewhere or if the light was green, like people do when they drive.

Intersection with no foot rests

One big difference between Amsterdam and Copenhagen is that Amsterdam has none of the little things that make biking a bit easier in Copenhagen, like foot rests, trash cans, and the yellow light before it turns green. While the system is generally better here in Amsterdam, I definitely notice the absence of those add-ons and I think Amsterdam would benefit from including them in their infrastructure, at least at the intersections where people will be waiting and could use them.

Cultural Differences

Someone sitting on the back of someone else's bike

Both places have a bike culture, but the bike culture in Amsterdam is a bit more developed and people here seem to trust cars more. The other main difference is that in Copenhagen the infrastructure use is very rule-oriented, and in Amsterdam it's chaos that flows. I think this probably has to do with how people are raised differently in the two cities, because the Amsterdam system might not make sense to people from Copenhagen and vice versa. This is important to remember in planning, that just because something is intuitive for you, doesn't mean it will work for everyone, and that's why community input is so important.

Convenience and Safety

I feel safer in Copenhagen because there is more separation and less shared roads which feel unsafe to me. Part of me knows that I shouldn't feel unsafe on them because the people driving there probably ride bikes too and will treat me like a human, but I am used to cars being aggressive at home, so it's still a bit scary. 

A car-free street

In terms of convenience, I think Amsterdam is better because the bike network connects you directly to destinations rather than just following the roads. It's also easier to stop and get off of the cycle tracks because there isn't a huge grade difference and you know people won't be angry.

My Preference

A graphic printed on a shared road that says "cars are guests"

Overall, I think I like Amsterdam better but I can understand why the Copenhagen system might make more sense to some people. Amsterdam is more chaotic and a bit overwhelming when you begin, but once you get the hang of it, you can appreciate how beautiful the flow is and have fun participating in it. Amsterdam does protection better with a lot more space between the cycle tracks and they do shared space better by making sure cars know that they are guests on the road, but Copenhagen is better with rule following and order. I think which system you like depends on your preference, but as someone who really appreciates rules and specific directions, I'm surprised that I love Amsterdam so much. 

Things to Transfer Back Home

A street designed so that it's one way for cars and two ways for bikes

The most important thing that I think would be really valuable back in the US is the design of infrastructure to drive behavior. I think a lot of Americans don't really obey signs, and it's hard to do so when the roads aren't designed in alignment with the signs; for example a really wide road that encourages speeding with a low speed limit that contradicts the design. The traffic calming and infrastructure design here that forces people to follow the rules is really interesting and allows for there to be intersections with no lights or stop signs. It is also legible for everyone; no matter what language they speak or how well they can read, the infrastructure will force them to slow down or yield without having to read and obey a sign.

An example of a ramp in Amsterdam

I also like the elevated lanes with a clear cut curb as protection and I think that would be very beneficial in America because it gives the cyclist a sense of protection  and it prevents the driver from easily driving onto the lane, which would allow people to ride more because they feel more safe. As long as there are ramps where people need them, whether asphalt or the more developed ramps here, the elevation is a good way to protect cyclists.

Someone riding in a shared "cars are guests" area between cars and bikes

All in all, I think the clear cut design of Copenhagen would be best to take back to America because it is easily readable for newcomers and we haven't developed a cycling culture as much as any of these cities have. In America, we wouldn't be able to simply put "cars are guests" on the road to have drivers be more respectful because we already have a culture of aggressive driving and car dominance. However, if we added Copenhagen-like infrastructure, I think it would make a lot more people feel safer cycling in the US. 

Random Thoughts

At this point in the study abroad it's hitting me hard how grateful I am to be here and to be surrounded by people that know what I'm talking about when I talk about bike infrastructure or planning because I don't have anyone like that back home. I'm very happy that I'm getting to participate in this wonderful experience with all of the other students and I'm having a lot of fun in Amsterdam. It's super cool to see that the "magic" of Dutch cycling is very real after only watching videos of it and reading about it for so long.