Dutch bridge engineer offers tips for a more bike-friendly Peterborough

Winter weather doesn’t stop Dutch bridge engineer and internationally-renowned cyclist Adriaan Kok from cycling the London Street Footbridge over the Otonabee River.

Kok is on a month-long North American tour, and on Tuesday, he made a stop in Peterborough.

“I think it’s important to share my experience with bike infrastructure design,” said Kok.

Kok works for ipv Delft, one of the leading bridge design and engineering companies in the Netherlands. Over the last 20 years, his company has designed hundreds of pedestrian, bicycle and road bridges all over the Netherlands.

“We learned a lot on how to design the best bike bridges that sort of satisfy all stakeholders, all local residents are cost efficient and I’m here to share the tips on how to do this,” said Kok.

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In the Netherlands, Kok said, roadways and trails are very dense and there’s not a lot of space, but in Peterborough it’s very different. Kok said there is a lot of space and a lot of opportunity to create a bike-friendly community.

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“What I’ve seen until now is they look like beautiful bike paths, and when you advertise them well on the internet,” he said, “you will attract a lot of Dutch people going on holiday here, at least.”

Kok said his top tips in creating sustainable, cost effective bridges is to start off the design process by involving all parties, from maintenance to engineers to local residents. He also said it’s important to use what’s available around you and your natural environment.

“For instance, in the Netherlands we don’t have bedrock,” he said. “You have bedrock here. Well, please use your bedrock to create more efficient bridges.”

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Working in the business for more than 20 years, Kok says he’s learned that the proper bike infrastructure can ultimately improve traffic flow for both vehicles and pedestrians.

Susan Sauve, transportation demand management planner with the City of Peterborough, say’s she’s looking forward to seeing some much-needed change, while keeping costs at a minimum.

“We’ve brought Adriaan around to about 10 different locations across the city where we have busy road crossings of trails or places where we envision a bridge in the future,” Suave said. “We know that we won’t be able build all of this right away, but we’ve come away with some really good ideas, very practical.”

Kok says he hopes to be back in Peterborough in the near future to refresh the biking community.