Clear Passage

Winter's grip on Copenhagen is still firm. All the snow is formed into frozen ridges throughout the city. As we've been banging on about, the bike lanes are are a main priority and they are cleared first, long before the roads. The bike lane snowploughs zip dutifully back and forth.

I did, however, read that the counties in Denmark are overbudget regarding snow clearing. The annual budget for all the counties is 1 billion kroner [ca. $185 million] and that number is already doubled this year.

The main thoroughfares in Copenhagen are cleared to accomdate the daily armada of bicycles but on the more minor roads without separated bike infrastructure, the snowploughs ain't been visiting. The roads are divided up into A roads and B roads and the focus is on the A roads with all this snowfall.

But I've forgotten about the photo up top. This is near the city centre on a relatively main street. The bike lane is cleared but all the snow from the bike lane and the street has been ploughed into a ridge to the left of the bike lane.

Normally, this is car parking. You can see what the minivan has to do to park, sticking halfway out into traffic. Farther along, outside a hotel entrance, cars are precariously parked on packed snow.

Meanwhile, the bicycles roll on.

Action on the Streets

The double decker bike racks at the nation's busiest station, Nørreport.
There's lots of action on the streets of the city these days.

There was actually two of these bicycle lane snowploughs, the other one is up ahead. I rode keirin behind them for a ways.

Like this guy.


Removing the frozen snow drifts is now the main priority. Unless it snows again.

Enter The Snow Slinger of Copenhagen

Screengrab from TV2 Nyhederne.

They call it the Snow Slinger and it's the City of Copenhagen's bad boy for clearing the drifts of snow that form along the curb between the bike lanes and the streets.

As mentioned before, the bicycle infrastructure enjoys the highest priority in Copenhagen. They are salted in advance of snowfall and they are cleared first when the snow falls.

There are rules regarding snow clearance. The City takes care of the bicycle lanes and streets while home owners and businesses must keep their sidewalks clear. The latter are not allowed to shovel the snow onto the bicycle lanes/tracks. In cases of heavy snowfall they pile up the snow along the edge of the curb - as visible in the above photo, at right.

When the snowploughs dedicated to the bicycle lanes remove snow they push it to the edge of the curb towards the street or into the gutter. The snow on the street is pushed towards the curb, but not onto the bicycle lanes.

This photo, taken out of my window last week before the big dumps of snow, shows how the sidewalks, bike lanes and roads are cleared and where the snow ends up. The bike lane snowploughs carve a 1.5 metre path, which isn't the full width, but enough for overtaking.

Anyway, the drifts from all the pushing snow out of the way are high in places and frozen solid to boot. Removing this snow is the task at the moment - although another snowstorm is expected to hit Copenhagen this afternoon with another 10-15 cm to add to the 25 cm on the ground.


Here's a little film of the news report about The Snow Slinger on TV2's national news broadcast yesterday. Click on the the link for the piece about the Slinger in it's original form, in Danish. It's at 10:00 into the broadcast. I just added music to the above film.

The Snow Slinger rolls along eating up the snow drifts and spitting the snow into a truck driving next to it. It can fill that truck in 5 minutes. After it's gone the bike lanes are free of the frozen drifts on the edges, making it easier and safer to cycle as well as to get in and out of your parked car. If you have one.

Salt Shortage - Priority for Bicycles

The City of Copenhagen issued a press release last Friday about how the City's stash of salt for the roads and bicycle lanes is very low due to the snowstorms of the past few weeks.

Salting: Bicycle Lanes and the main roads have the highest priority

Because of the hard winter conditions of the past several weeks there is a shortage of road salt all over Denmark, including Copenhagen. We must therefore prioritize which roads and paths we salt.

At the moment we are prioritising the bicycle lanes/cycle tracks as well as the main approach roads to the city, so that the police and ambulances can get in.


Nice to see they have their priorities right. And even with another snowstorm on it's way to Denmark - the third in a week - the bicycle lanes must be kept clear.

Copenhagen January Bicycles

Another little winter film from the streets and bike lanes of Copenhagen. Snow and sub-zero temperatures and the bicycles roll on. There's even TWO bike lane snowploughs in the film for the Bicycle Infrastructure Fetishists :-).

In both instances you can see how the bicycle lane snowploughs push the snow away from the sidewalk, instead over onto the parked cars. Best illustrated in the second bit with a snowplough.

Worth mentioning - because I've been asked the question a few times of late - that we don't used studded tires or any other gadgest or gizmos or extra gear in the snow. Just the same squeaky, wobbly and half-flat tires as the rest of the year.

People just slow down. Simple as that. Riding straight in snow is hardly a challenge unless you're on super skinny racy tires - which you're not in the snow, duh - and on corners you just take it easy.

The number of bicycles is fewer when it snows, but there are easily still a couple of hundred thousand people riding their bicycles in Greater Copenhagen in this weather. I posted about it a couple of days ago and now here's some moving images.


I'm loving this winter so far. The lakes are frozen for skating, the landscape is white with snow, the air is bracing. Just like normal winters used to be - like the archive photo from 1947.

Snow Clearing

The amount of snow that fell during the Climate Conference ranged between 10 cm and 50 cm in a day. Most of the bike lanes along the main streets were cleared pre-emptively of snow but less busy streets had to wait a day or so for snowploughing. The reason was not just the amount of snow, but also the fact that Copenhagen's resources were apparently stretched to the limit during the climate conference so the usual level of service was delayed.

Nevertheless, Copenhageners just slowed down and took it easy until freer passage was available on bike lanes like the one above.

It's snowing again as I write this and we're back to normal. The bike lanes are cleared and salted while snow lies on either side.


Copenhagen Keirin.

The City is responsible for clearing the bike lanes of snow and debris. House/building owners, like most places, are responsible for the sidewalks.


Brushes are used on the bike lane maintenence vehicles. At the back, salt is spun out onto the bike lane. The brushes are generally adequate even in heavy snowfall since the snowploughs will run up and down busy sections in repetitive cycles if need be. As opposed to waiting for the snow to fall and THEN clearing it.

More bicycle infrastructure maintenence vehicles. The photo on the left is of a tractor that was drafted in during a snowstorm to assist the regular bike lane vehicles.

Even in smaller towns in Denmark and, in the photo above, Sweden, bike lanes are cleared regularly. Our summer house is near Höör, Sweden, a town of about 7000 people, and here they clear the bike lanes with ploughs to allow the people free passage on two wheels.

Snowpenhagen

It started snowing yesterday which is absolutely wonderful. Our climate change lot is milder winters so snowfall is lovely. I was on my way home from various interviews yesterday and filmed this little film on the way.

The forecast today is only for 3-8 cm of snow in Copenhagen and 15-20 cm in other parts of the country, but it's nice to have a sense of winter.

I'd love to have a normal winter like we used to have here in Denmark, back when the seas froze and you could walk among the islands and even to Sweden. This photo is from 1922. Denmark has a number of ice breaker ships that are constantly on call during the winter but they haven't seen much action for the past decade or so.



The heat of the city causes most snowfall to melt here in Copenhagen but just a bit farther out into the country it sticks. And on the other side of The Sound, in Sweden, they get more snow, as a rule. I snapped this photo last year. This snowplough is in the small town near the summer house in Höör. Even in this town of 7000 people the bike lanes are cleared of snow right away.

Snowstorm in Copenhagen

An unexpected snowstorm blew in over Copenhagen Saturday night. Should have been rain, but it fell as wet snow propelled on gale force winds. Bloody cold, too. The busses were busier than usual but the bikes continued flowing. Quite impressive to see so many Copenhageners on their bikes heading out for a Saturday night in that weather.



The snowploughs had their work cut out for them. Here's one at 22:15, flying through town, clearing the snow on the bike lanes. I rode around on snow for the most part, but like all the cyclists I saw, I just took it easy so there was no problem, even though it was slippery until the snowploughs arrived.

Winter Bicycle Lanes in Copenhagen

It's been snowing for a few days now and all day today the city has been continually dusted with snow.

The bike lane snowploughs have been working overtime. You can hear them drone past late at night and they continue through the day. A fleet of small tractors are assisting them in keeping the bike lanes clear and salted.

On the high usage routes the snowploughs run in pairs, one off to the right and the one behind off to the left, in order to clear the whole width of the bike lane. On routes with lesser traffic, like the photo above, the snowploughs just clear an even path through the snow to accomodate the cyclists. Then they head off to help out on the main routes.

Quite the logistical challenge, but it seems to run like clockwork. The mere fact that a few hundred thousands bicycles move around the city each day helps keep the bike lanes clear, too.

People are cycling a bit slower, but it's not that noticeable. Cycling straight in the snow requires little change of style. Cornering requires concentration, but the past few days I haven't seen anybody slip or slide or wobble, let alone anyone falling off. Experience pays off, as does the advantage of cycling in large crowds, where the flock adjusts the speed and increases awareness - in concerto.

Actually I find the sound of bike lane snowploughs outside my window to be a perfect weather report. I live on a street with a medium level of cyclists - about 10,000 a day - so it's a street that is salted first. If we hear the snowploughs drive past, it usually means that snow is on the way.

Addendum:
Nothing to do with bikes but I just saw on the news that in the suburban sprawl the rubbish collectors aren't bothering picking up the rubbish if you don't clear the snow off your sidewalks and driveways. Guess that's pretty universal.

Copenhagen Winter Cycling

Copenhagenize.com - Winter Cycling from Colville Andersen on Vimeo.
Scenes from a cycling life in Copenhagen during the winter. Featuring some of the 400,000 citizens who choose the bicycle throughout the winter.

Typically, after I edited this and put it up onto Vimeo, it REALLY started snowing. I'll do a redux at some point with the new footage.

There are a couple of shots of small tractors clearing and salting the bike lanes. When it snows heavier, they are recruited and assist the exisiting bike lane snowploughs.

Winter Cycling

Morning rush hour in Copenhagen after a night with snowfall. In the city there was only about 8 cm but the snow continued falling. Most of Europe has been hit by heavy snows but Copenhagen has been spared until now. Snowmen have been constructed across the nation in tribute. On the bike lanes, 400,000 cyclists just get on with it and head off to work and school.


I drafted behind a snowplough/salter this morning on my way to work. The salters started hitting the bike lanes last night - before the snow started falling - and the snowploughs picked up where they left off when the snow finally came. The lanes were cleared of snow when I went out to the bike shed at about 08:00. After all, 400,000 people have to get to work, so it wouldn't be very good if the lanes weren't cleared.

Keeping the Flow Flowing

While average citizens on normal bikes who cycle to work or school have no need for useless equipment it is, however, rather vital that the city in which they live is well-equipped for bicycle culture.

Here's another shot of one of our bike lane maintenence vehicles. This one was humming along yesterday, Saturday, sweeping the bike lanes. They're lovely little vechicles. Perfectly designed for the bike lanes. There's always room for cyclists to overtake. When it snows, however, you'll see cyclists sitting comfortably behind them on the freshly cleared bike lane. I've posted this photo before:

It's kind of like the mainstream bicycle culture version of the Keirin.

After a massive snowfall the bike lane snowploughs push the snow off to the left and the street snowploughs push their snow to the right, leaving mountains of snow drifts in between. A nice natural separated bike lane, in a way. In this case, small bulldozers move out and shovel the snow into dumptrucks, which promptly take the snow and dump it into the harbour. We've had pretty steady snowfall this winter, but no big dumps as yet. The rest of Europe has been hit a lot harder. Me and the kids are itching for 50 cm or more so we can get sledding.

Salt Guards and Keeping Bike Lanes Clear

In the previous post about the poster from the City reminding us to clear our sidewalks - they'll take care of the bike lanes and roads - there was a discussion about using salt on the infrastructure.

We salt our bike lanes and roads here in Copenhagen. Sometimes the wide stripe of salt on the bike lane is my weather report. If I see the stripe I know that snow is forecast and the city is ahead of the game with a preventive measure to ensure that the bike lane is as clear as possible until they can get out with the bike lane snowploughs.

In Copenhagen, in the late fall, barriers are set up all over the place, along the roadside where trees and bushes are in the splashing zone of traffic. In the photo above you can see the black plastic shield to the right of the stylish cyclist. In many places they are wicker - woven branches - and they look more organic than black plastic. Nevertheless, the trees and bushes are protected from the salty, slushy spray after snowfall.

Keeping the bike lanes clear is important. Not least for safety. But it is also a practical issue. 80% of Copenhageners continue to ride throughout the winter. That's roughly 400,000 people. If this massive group is somehow restricted in getting to work or school, imagine the chaos. Those who don't drive will have to take a bus or a train. 400,000 extra people all of a sudden standing at busstops and train stations throughout the region would be a logistical nightmare and a transport chaos.

Parents would be late getting their kids to kindergarten or school. There would be lost man hours because of people arriving late or not at all. The bike lanes are kept clear for the most basic, practical reasons.


Even the small town of Höör, in Sweden - population 7000 - have bike lane snowploughs. Here's an earlier post about it.

Small Town Bike Lane Snowplough

A propos the post about Bike Lane Snowplough in Action, here's another bike lane being cleared of snow.

This time it isn't in Copenhagen where the bike lanes HAVE to be cleared in order to accommodate tens of thousands of cyclists. The bike lane snowplough above is from the small town of Höör, in Southern Sweden. There was about 20 centimetres of snowfall last night in the area and the regular snowploughs were in action at steady intervals along the highways as we headed home from the summer house.

But even in a town with a population of 7000, bike usage is high and the bike lanes are a vital artery and these smaller snowploughs clear the snow and spray fine gravel.

When a town of 7000 in a municipality of 15,000 has a bike lane snowplough - and I'll guess they have more than one, it seems odd that more larger cities don't.

Bike Lane Snowplough in Action

I love our little bike lane snowploughs [okay, it's a whirly brush thingy in this case, but you get the point] that speed along in the early morning after a snowfall.