The Next Great Cycling City
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- čas přidán 18. 05. 2024
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Oslo is a city that is changing quickly. After electing a left-wing majority government in 2015, the city has implemented a number of sweeping changes to make their streets safer and to increase cycling numbers. It's still very much a work in progress, with new street design guidelines there's a lot of good progress in the right direction.
Will Oslo become the next great cycling city?
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References & Further Reading
Street Design Manual for Oslo
www.c40knowledgehub.org/s/art...
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It was great visiting Oslo, and it was incredible to see how much it had changed in the 5 years since I was last there. I had to be selective in what I showed and the video was still 20 minutes long!
Lots of great stuff is happening there and I can't wait to see what happens in the next 5 years
I would really apreciate if you visited Bergen and tried out some of the cycling infrastructure here ad they recently built the worlds longest cycling tunnel!
I hope Jason wore a plastic hat like all the other people cycling in this video :)
@@torque4066 I was just about to comment this
I don't mind longer videos. If you feel the videos have the content to be longer, while I can't speak for others, I like longer videos.
@@benjamintomassennordahl7911 are you from Bergen to?
Public transportation being too good for bikes is such an amazing problem to have.
He didn't mention but the city sits atop a slope.
From the fjord to the northern edge of the city it is 10k, and it goes up 250m.
That's why people prefer public transit
@@johnny_eth That combined with the occasional minor snowstorm in the winter
@@johnny_eth Amazing for you to make this shitty excuse on the same channel that has an existing video that disproves it
@@johnny_eth That definitely makes sense indeed. I noticed this as well when I was in Oslo, the suburbs are situated on rather steep hills.
@@markuserikssen The whole city sits in a bowl, only really open to the fjord in the south. It's also why there has been huge problems with pollution, because the air just sits still. That has become incredibly much better though! So much better than I had ever dreamt of.
Also, since the air doesn't get exchanged as much, the city itself is usually 1-3 degrees C higher than just outside the city center.
"Bicycles aren't cars so they don't need roundabouts, signs, or traffic lights" Some UK Councils would get into a serious fight with you over that one
Well then they're wrong.
Germany too, in some places. Lots of people who seem to think that bikes should be treated like cars. Except when there's too many of them, in which case squeeze them in somewhere with the pedestrians.
I would totally not be surprised if Swindon made another Magic Roundabout but only for cyclists. Houston would follow suit by making a multi-stack cloverleaf interchange bike path as well, with over 5 lanes each direction.
@@Humulator Not everything but urban policies are a political matter by definition
@@Potato-dx5mc did you mean to say that everything is a political matter by definition?
As a citizen of Oslo the bike infrastructure went from completely non existing to what you see today in 15 years. So in that sense it is pretty good. In the summer months you will on average see about a ten fold of cyclist. The majority of office buildings have accommodations for bike parking and also installed wardrobes and showers for people that want to use their commute as a workout.
Søring!
I love how "car centric by European standards" looks like the most walkable new urbanist places in America
One (remarkable to this north american) thing I noticed visiting the Nordic countries was that even if you just looked like you wanted to cross the street, every driver stopped to let you pass. And not just at a crosswalks -- right in the middle of a street. I even ended up crossing the street twice when I didn't need/want to, because I felt so compelled/embarrassed once everybody stopped! :P When you have a culture (and thus a driving culture) that is actually cognizant and conscientious of others around them, it must be so much nicer to be a cyclist, and I'd guess you'd need "less" infrastructure for the non-major-thoroughfare areas than in other countries as the danger from drivers would be less. (Not to say this is a reason _not_ to build any infrastructure, but priority and type can take this into account.) To be able to cycle on a side street and not need to be hyper vigilant to errant and aggressive drivers must be delightful. I only walked/transit when I visited, but next time maybe I should hop on a bikeshare. Thank you for this dive into Oslo's cycling!
one small counter to that is that drivers generally are more favorable towards pedestrians then cyclist. So you're probably safer on foot than on bike
Ye.. this doesnt extend to bikes. If im on my road bike i rarely finish a ride without feeling like yelling at someone for ignoring me in an intersection or passing way to close.. If you look like an amateur people are a bit more friendly.
Yeah that happens in belfast sometimes. Not really in the middle of the street, sometimes. But always at zebra crossings and even unmarked intersections which is nice
The Netherlands has this too! Sometimes I accidentally walk too close to a road crossing and a car stops and im like "Ooooh no I'm sorry you didn't need to" and i feel guilty, but it just goes to show how nice most car owners are!
I believe it's in the traffic laws that you have to stop at crossings in a good few European countries
Fun fact: Houston is almost 7 times larger than Oslo, yet Oslo has five metro lines, 6 tram lines, dozens of regional rail lines and a station that has almost 20 platforms.
What does Houston have? 😂
Literally like 2 tram lines and a station that looks like a rural village lol
Traffic jams.
@@baronvonlimbourgh1716 😂
The world's largest freeway (26 lanes). And traffic jams.
Houston has a problem(s)
Just to add, having grown up in this city, seeing where we started out to where we are now is a BIG difference. ALOT has happened in the just the last 5 years, and I think this video captures what a city in transition looks like.
alot is not a word
@@prplt do you get corrected often when you write in your not native language?
@@prplt It's not a big mistake. If you meant to be helpful, try to be more subtle when pointing it out. In my opinion.
Same here! Nearing 50 years in Oslo, with a family having lived here for more than 7 generations. So I also have seen a lot of the family photos from all over the city. It has been a great change! My family used to live on Tøyen, with Vålerenga, Kampen and Grønland as the areas we hung out. Saw a lot of those areas covered in the video, and that's always fun! :)
I love the change that is happening in my city. All except the housing prices!
@@prplt it means alot that you pointed that put.
In 2014 a survey showed that 9% felt safe cycling in Oslo, in 2022 that number was up to 31%. Neither are great numbers, but it's a good indication of the improvements over the last few years.
The number of cyclists here has also grown a lot, and the cargo bikes you saw were virtually non existent in Oslo 10 years ago, but now they're all over the place.
Thank you for coming here and making this video! As a bicycle planner working in Oslo I can thankfully say «we’re working on it!» to most of the things you point out, like continous sidewalks and bikepaths. It hasn’t been included in our street design manuals yet and because it hasn’t really been considered before, other organizations are sceptical like you mention. Hopefully it will be included in our next update of the manual. We also work with building pilot projects with them right now.
That sign isn’t inside bike parking though, that is just our obsession with signage. It has a regulatory effect (makes it possible for us to ticket motorbikes that park in the bike parking in the front of the sign).
We do salt our streets though, to melt the snow allowing the grit to stick.
The new street designs are nice but Sognsveien was better before with raised bike lanes. Now it's unsafe with busses right next to cyclists speeding down a 40 kph street which busses do not follow. I call my street "the Autobahn". Please bring back the RAISED cycle lane for Sognsveien!
Hi Mathias, as a Dutch living in Oslo and seeing some changes in the right direction as it becoming slowly more bike friendly and less car centric, I also have noticed that for example in our neighbourhood people are also fighting bike lines where street parking is removed. This makes perfect sense since first of all this is 30 zone and the roads are relatively narrow because of street parking and thus save. With a 1-way bicycle lane these streets will actually become wider and potentially less unsafe. The real kicker is that people need their cars here. There are virtually no jobs in the area and public transport connection isn't great. Do you know if the municipality of Oslo is addressing this problem by creating more diverse zoning?
Keep up the good work Mathias! I'm an avid cyclist - for both transportation and exercise purposes - and has been living in central Oslo for the past 10 years and can definitely confirm that Oslo has improved tremendously. As a Dane moving to Oslo from Copenhagen it took me some time to get used to the cycling culture here, and I have stopped comparing Oslo to Copenhagen everytime I ride my bike. It has taken Copenhagen 50+ years to get where they are now. Oslo has just started the transformation recently and you will always meet people who are critical, don't think change is coming fast enough or that it's being done wrong. Even though some of the criticism might even be valid, I'm so happy to live in a city that is in the middle of a transformation to become much more livable!
We could fairly cheaply improve a lot of the painted bike gutters where the street is pretty wide anyway, by placing some narrow flower boxes on the separator line every 10 meters or so. That would not only look nicer and force the cars to leave sufficient room for the bikes, but also reduce the actual speed from 50 or 60 km/h down to the posted limit of 40 or 30. I've noticed that when the street parking near us was replaced with painted bike lanes, while the street looks much nicer, the average speed has increased and also the noise level because the the bike paths just dissappear and re-appear randomly every 100 meters, not too many bikes are using them yet and the lack of parked cars just makes the street feel more comfortable to drive fast in. I've caught myself starting to speed whenever I drive there without cruice control here when driving because the sound proofing walls and unused bike lanes makes it feel like a suburban "riksvei" than a street; and it's horrible to walk along this road because the road noise is almost the same as a minor motorway.
I went to Oslo in 2013 and I've never seen a city more under construction. There seemed to be more cranes than people. Now I feel like I have to go back to see the results of it all plus all this great new urbanism. (Though it was already a nice city and as you said, extremely walkable.)
There's still a lot of cranes! Oslo grew with 100k people over the past 11 years, and looks like the population growth took a dip during lockdowns, but in 2022 came back up to nearly 10k.
Oslo was a lovely city to walk around a decade and a half ago, even halfway across the city, when I lived and worked there a couple of months. It's nice that they're building on that.
Oslo used to be walkable. It still is, but it used to be too!
"... public transit here is TOO GOOD."
Just stick another dagger into my heart, please.
Signed,
Suburbia Resident
I'm Norwegian, and I'm so delighted to see that Jason has made an urban planning video about Oslo!
First make it very bike friendly, then look at the beautification around it ^^
I haven't been there but just looking at this video, it's too uhm.. gray? I don't know if that's just the weather or Jason's filter, but yeah, it lacks a bit of vibrance.
@@apapods needs at least ten times more trees
@@apapods A lot of it is the weather, yes. Norwegian winters also has very cold light (more white than yellow), so it appears even bleaker. But also the city is very grey, which does not help in wintertime.
@@apapods Weather makes a huge difference in how the city looks. In the winter it looks depressing, but in the summer its amazingly beautiful.
The video only mentioned it briefly, but I adore the metro and tram system in Oslo. The metro is efficient, quite elegant, and much more comprehensive than one would expect in a city that is not really that large, and the tram system is vibrant, sprawling, and beautiful, especially in the summertime, as the trams glide along the lush grassy tram tracks, and I feel like I'm in an eco-futurist paradise.
Adjective addict spotted
Wow that was poetic. Now I wanna go to oslo
Well, you don’t quite see it that way when you live in the north east and work in the north west and the train system is set up in a way that forces you to go aaaaaal the way south and into the city center to change trains and then go all the way back up north on the other side. That’s no fun when you just want to get to work aqap. What takes 15 min by car takes you at least 45min by train. 😕
@@martinmuller292 This is where cycling infrastructure can come in! It's not going to be possible for PT to cover all possible commutes, especially in lower-density cities, but cycling can help bridge the gap.
Although with a 15 min drive, unless there's a shorter gap to PT infrastructure, that's a bit long to bike imo, but maybe that's just my lazy ass speaking.
@@tomfeng5645 you are exactly right. And that’s why we invested in a e-cargo bike that can transport the kids and serve as a commuter bike for my wife. The distance she travels is 13km one way and so far she is having a lot of fun doing it. Time wise we’re looking at 35 min down and 40 back up again. We live on top of a hill ☺️
Apparently there is also a push from Stockholm, which has ever higher increasing biking commuters, to become more bike friendly. Glad to see Scandinavia is catching up =)
A lot of people cycle in Stockholm these days. I always commuted to work between Bromma and T-Centralen by bike. The infrastructure is far from perfect, but it's getting better. It's good that there are quite a lot of main routes which are very clean, also during winter.
@@markuserikssen I visited Stockholm in February and there were tons of people cycling! It was great to see
An interesting thing is that Norways best cycling city according to the cyclists accociation is Stavanger which is the oil capital lol. 10% trips are by bike and 26% of people cycle atleast every week. Doesn't have as good transit as Oslo but does still invest heavily in cycling. And pretty much already has a seperate cycling network also bike highway u/c
While the mode share isn't very impressive Compared to Amsterdam for example it is the best norway has to offer lol
I guess I'll have to visit some day! I also nerd to go back to Bergen to see the new cycling and LRT tunnels!
@@NotJustBikes the Bergen bybane is definitely top notch, wish it went that way in Stavanger too.
Bergen Also has a nice city center with a lot of pedestrian areas. And also as a side note they have Tolleybusses and pretty good bus service when I've visited
As was stated in the video, I think the great public transport in Oslo reduces bike travel quite a bit. The steep elevation in several parts of Oslo has also made regular bikes a no go for many casual bikers. So you'll see a ton of electric bicycles, sometimes more than regular ones. I have to admit I also use an electric bike now, it's still a great way to use the body but it reduces sweat on the way to the office :)
Stavanger and Bergen dont have any winter. Average temperature is never below 0 degrees celcius. Oslo has 4 months of winter. Kristiansand has 3.
I have an Oslo trip planned this summer and now even more excited to visit after watching this. Would like to invite you to explore the impressive nationwide bicycle infrastructure of South Korea. I just finished traversing the entire country riding from Incheon to Busan. South Korea is incredibly bicycle friendly even outside the urban areas. They boast a staggering amount of bicycle tunnels scattered throughout their rugged mountainous terrain. Unfortunately, South Korea is still very car dependent compared to most European cities however.
I have an extensive road trip planned to Norway,... but Oslo is removed from that itinary
@@freudsigmund72 y did you remove Oslo?
@@sternchen6596 because it doesn't fit an itinary for a roadtrip
@@sternchen6596 if you're planning a city trip and do not plan to venture outside city limits, Oslo wouldn't be my choice, but maybe it's a viable destination for some.
Do you have any good guides or recommendations concerning tf bike trip to South Korea? I'd love to know more
I think you’re right about the transit being so good that people don’t bike a lot. I figured I had to buy a bike when I moved to Oslo, but I never got around to it because walking everywhere was just fine with the metro and trams. A few months after moving, my health app told me my monthly exercise minutes had more than doubled even though I had never made a conscious decision to exercise more.
Walking in Norway is just wonderful. When I visited Tromsø just over a year ago, I walked from the airport to my hotel in the city centre. It was -4° and I was wheeling a carry-on-sized suitcase about, but I couldn't figure out the airport shuttle buses and figured it would only be about an hour's walk even with the hills, and it ended up being one of the most pleasant hours walking I've had in a city.
That’s cool. I just love bicycling so much that I’d be remiss if I didn’t get in somewhere between 4-20 miles on the daily.
That's the thing, humans as apex predators were built to conserve energy so "use energy on command" (like in lot of exercise) can feel aversive.
But if you are walking to some destination that is not so much the case, you are using the energy for a purpose (going to work, socialize or shop etc.) no different than a stone age person foraging for berries or looking for prey etc.
Plus, walking to places is free, and you need to do it anyways. No need to buy an exercise machine or gym membership. Even the poor can do it!
Walking-friendly city design is actually one of the greatest things you can do for public health.
I remember when I moved out & walked 20 mins to my job every day, I didn't think of it as exercise either. My place was just close to the city center & walking wasn't slower than the bus once you feature in wait times, so I figured I might as well start walking rather than stand around bored waiting for the bus to come.
But then my brother came to visit me, & I told him the way from the train station to my place was "just a short walk".
& I noticed he got exhausted halfway through. It wasn't a 'short walk' to him.... The fact that I was going somewhere useful just deadass 'tricked me' into getting used to walking alot.
Some dutch style protected intersections are to be built in the Storo area. It has bothered me that the cycling infrastructure always seem to disappear when reaching an intersection, so I hope this will gain traction and be put in elsewhere in the city too!
The Storo area absolutely needs a lift when it comes to bike infrastructure.
The intersection is a nightmare and Norconsult's proposal was a big "let's add bike lanes anywhere, but damn the intersection".
There is actually plenty of area on the bridge, but it is being occupied by 5 car lanes.
I'm originally from the Netherlands and moved to Stockholm almost two years ago. True to my Dutch roots I cycle basically everywhere, and have seen a lot of similar things that you described about Oslo happen / exist in Stockholm. Truth be told, I don't know what the plans are for future cycle infrastructure development here, but I'd love to see you make a video like this about Stockholm in the future! Great video, I always look forward to seeing a new one pop up in my feed!
Another Dutchie here who has lived in Stockholm before. I always commuted to work between Bromma and T-Centralen by bike. The infrastructure is far from perfect, but it's getting better. It's good that there are quite a lot of main routes which are very clean, also during winter.
If you want to see what is possible in Stockholm, go to Djurgårdsstaden near Ropsten. There they implemented some good infrastructure, from my point of view as someone from the Netherlands living in Stockholm at least.
@@zarathoestranl Outside the city centre, the biking infrastructure is pretty good. While the roads and streets aren't that good in many places, there are almost always paths outside the road network, in particular through parks and the nature that's been left somewhat untouched while expanding.
Using gravel instead of salt is also better for the environment, so while personally I would prefer for the road to be salted, I could accept the roads being graveled instead. Nice thing about the gravel is that theoretically the city could come by after the snow is going and vacuum up the gravel get it filtered and reuse it.
That's exactly what happens with the gravel here in Oslo :) They just sweeped/vacuumed the street I live on this weekend. Another upside of gravel is that it doesn't require traffic to heat it up and work it into the snow and ice, making it ideal for less trafficked paths and sidewalks.
@@PioRaschHalvorsen Oh, that is great to hear. I was just speaking theoretically, so it's great to find out that they actually do just that.
One of the most impressive bike infrastructure in Norway is the newly open bike tunnel between Fyllingsdalen suburb and Bergen city centre
The bike highway between Stavanger and Sandnes is gunning for that position.
Yeah but they don't have the tunnels though.
@@aqidon Yeah, the tunnel through Løvstakken is something special.
@@aksela6912 sykkelstamvegen less gooo!! new section opening this week!
@@aqidon There certainly is a tunnel on the Stavanger-Sandnes bike highway. The frustrating part is that the tunnel has been finished for a while, but they still haven't started building the section of the bike highway that goes through it.
Great video! Also, as a Lithuanian, I'd find it very interesting if you made a video like this about our capital Vilnius. It's made a huge effort in recent years to go from a very car centric city to something more pedestrian and bicycle friendly. There's plenty more work to be done but its definitely going in the right direction :D
I've been to Vilnius last October! I quite enjoyed the walkability of the city and the old trolley busses are cool. But I don't remember bike infrastructure that well. What part in the city should you go for bike infrastructure? I spend most of my time in old town.
@@MauriceEscargot Glad you enjoyed it here! I think the reason you didn't see a lot of bike infrastructure was because the old town already has a low speed limit and narrow streets which make it safe enough to bike in. Most of the biking infrastructure work has been done in other districts of the city. Also, I'm glad you enjoyed the old trolley busses but Vilnius is currently buying a big batch of new ones. Within a couple of years all the old ones should be gone :D
I appreciate how you point out some issues of Oslo's bike paths but also take into consideration that progress is progress and Olso has a long term plan. We can't expect a city to go from 0 to 100 in a short period. As the video pointed out, most roads need a complete rebuilt every 15-20 years so if you have a long term plan now, every year that a specific road hits that 15-20 year threshold is an opportunity to add good bike paths at no extra costs.
At least they are on the path of improving. My city seemingly is going backwards when it comes to public transportation and cycling infrastructure. Like new roads if they are not boulevards do not have cycling paths, and good luck seeing old roads rebuilt for pedestrian and cycling, horrible city planning has made that impossible cause new buildings are too close to the street.On top of all that they have butchered bus public transit, and completely demolished tram infrastructure from the 50s and onward. Can not even begin to talk about how they murdered the train infrastructure in the entire country. And its an European city, like why da hell are we going the way of the US with car dependency, the worst example possible.
Also consider that here in the Netherlands we started our transition in the 70-s or perhaps the late 60s. So we also took half a century to get where we are now.
@@XEinstein Yikes. Ill be old by the time I see descent infrastructure, and that is if they start fixing it now and not when Im old.
@@XEinstein Considering how mind boggling wealthy Norway is and that eco friendly transport is considered essential nowadays, I imagine Oslo will get there by the end of this decade (at the latest).
@@ballyhigh11 ha, that is a good point. Norway is very very very rich indeed.
I’m a bicycle tour guide in Oslo and use the bike to get everywhere! Very much appreciate this video for your in-depth look on our infrastructure! Transition is the keyword! You pointed out some key places I also wish we had more stands for locking bikes and the questionable raised sidewalk with car level bike path is on my main commute and something i think about daily 😹 well done!
Cool job!
Where can i read more about this transition? Greetings from Sweden, would love to visit Oslo some day!
@@teemo8247 Be sure to visit our fjords as well!
How do bike tours work?
You should really visit Vilnius. In 2016 it used to have only 40 kilometers of bicycle paths and now it's more than 140 kilometers. The bicycle infrastructure is quite good and the number of people cycling increased a lot since they started building more bicycle paths.
Oslo is using a lot of road salt during winter, record amounts this winter because of the weather. All major roads are salted, and 120 kms of bike lanes and paths are designated as «priority A» during winters. This means they are plowed, brushed and salted to (try to) keep them free of ice. A lot of temperature changes from - to + means it can get really slippery!
As your hoped, the bad intersection west of Aker brygge with road works is beeing rebuilt for a better bike connection!
Something that you mentioned briefly in this video that I think is incredibly important is signposting!
In the UK I often see nice new cycle paths being built with no proper connectivity to destinations, and absolutely no signposts to even let people know they're there!
When they do put up cycle route signs, they often just have a little number on them, and no place names at all
(Edit: ok, you mentioned signage a few times)
Only 6-7% of trips in Oslo are done by cycling today (note: this puts it on the US level of Portland, OR, and Berkeley, CA). This also handily beats out New York City's 1.3% and Los Angeles's 0.6%. modeshare.
LOVE the idea of the sloped edge. I haven't gotten back on a bike since I had a horrible accident trying to shift sideways and running into a small bump between road sections. Super lucky that I fell AWAY from the upcoming semi that I moved for.
Oslo is incredible! I was there last summer and camped (for free!) on an island off the coast and commuted into the centre by ferry just as easily as I take the Tube in London. It was something else!
Been in Oslo last summer with a friend that is not used at all to biking in the city. As you said we had a few awkward moments in bikes, especially for a beguinner like him, so we ended up walking most of the time, it was so walk friendly. The weather was great and the very low amount of cars in the streets blew my friend's mind when pointed out. Loads of great public parcs too. He had say he'd wouldn't mind living in this big of a city as it was pleasant, which is big coming from him. Congratz Oslo you've conquered some hearts. Personnally I find the weather too cold but in a few decades it'll be better I think.
I worked in Oslo for 2 months, commuting in by train. Taking the metro was the easiest thing, usually only had to wait 1-2 minutes, and it was a 10 minute walk from the metrostop to my place of work. The walk was nice and was really only 2 streets with medium-low amounts of traffic to cross
We honestly need more urbanism content about East Asia which is widely urbanized yet remains invisible to Western understanding. I spent 6 years living in a community with infrastructure built around 2010 in Guangzhou, China called 科学城, we basically had 6 meter wide sidewalks separated from roads with greenery and fences, and 1.5 meter wide painted bicycle lanes on the sidewalk. all road intersections had protected islands. The area was initially served by buses but over the year 2 new metro lines have been opened with a third one on the way. I used to cycle to bus stops for school, and later switched to walking and metro. The area is fairly hilly so the roads are very sloped and there are many nice parks with bike infrastructure too between developments.
I would love to know what kind of design considerations are being made for the recently constructed Chinese cities. The idea of a new city being constructed from scratch is so interesting and uncommon, seems like an amazing opportunity for thoughtful city planning.
It would be great to have such content, but Jason lives in Europe so it's understandable that that is where he spends his efforts. There is good cycling content from Japan and Vietnam on the channel "Two Wheel Cruise", but they have now moved to America. (CORRECTION: they are planning to move to USA but are still going to be in Vietnam for quite a while it seems, due to the visa process).
What is stopping you from making your own Asian centric urbanism channel?
@@XEinstein don't have the knowledge or know where to start.
My main complaint about my Asian country is that sidewalks don't even exist...
i too would love some content about non-western places (though they're probably harder for him to visit)
Where do you get the continues sidewalks all over Denmark from?
We have basically no continues sidewalks or bike lanes, and is really just good at marketing ourselves as bike friendly. Cycling here is not far from terrible, and Oslo
already seems to have surpassed us in all categories.
I did a semester in Oslo in college, and I lived right by the stadium shown in the video. The new bridge wasn't there in 2015 yet, but I still spent 5 months without a car and hardly even noticed. Oslo is such an easy city to get around by public transit. I saw everything in the city and never even had to get a taxi.
Great video, thanks! The very low number of cars visibile in the streets leads me to think that you were in Oslo during Easter? Oslo is more or less empty and almost nobody is working during the Easter week. Normally, the traffic is a lot worse than this.
I think you're forgetting an important aspect. You seem to think that having walking and bicycle paths away from the roads and under them is better per se. As a woman living in The Netherlands, I would like to chip in on this by letting you know that social safety is important as well. Bicycle paths that go under roads or stray far from roads are avoided by me, and many other women, when it's dark at a time that aren't many people around. So during the winter, this is quite a big thing.
I think the risk of being hit by a car is still larger than the risk of being assaulted
@@leob4403 Not to mention men are far more likely to be victims of every violent crime.
@@leob4403 But even if it's only perception, it's still going to deter people from cycling.
@@marco23p maybe put more lights in the tunnels, and possibly cameras I dont know, maybe people dont like surveillance cameras
@@leob4403 Be like Japan and install 防犯カメラ everywhere. Also build some shrines.
I lived in Oslo for the last four months of 2022, and coming from America, the difference between the bike infrastructure and the walking infrastructure was night and day, as expected. But I definitely agree that at the moment, it is not a bikeable city. While I would see a lot more people on bikes than I would in California, a lot of times people would be stuck in traffic or the infrastructure would just end and dump you into a road, just like you saw. I had never ridden a bike before coming to Oslo so I made it a mission to use rental bikes and teach myself how to ride a bike, and once I had gotten comfortable with it I tried to go to the closest bike/walking path I knew of which ended up with me being dumped onto a road without even a bicycle gutter to save me. And that experience kind of scared me out of riding a bike in Oslo. But luckily, as you mentioned, walking is such an welcoming alternative in Oslo. I would take t-banen every day to go do everything. But during rush hour, t-banen could be extremely packed and could be more of a chore to take than it should be, especially lines 5 and 3. So, I can't wait to see how this changes as the bike infrastructure is improved across the city during the next times that I go back to visit.
One of the important facts about Norway and car infrastructure is that drivers are required to undergo much stricter, more expensive, and rigorous driver's training than a lot of other places (look up the cost-- it's wild!). Laws for drunk driving are also incredibly strict. I think some of the shared bike/car facilities would scare me in the US, but in Norway you can rely on drivers a bit more to be safer overall... When I lived there it was almost shocking how quickly cars would screech to a halt if you wanted to cross at a non-marked crossing. I never felt unsafe walking on roads where there was no sidewalk (which were far more plentiful where I lived there than elsewhere in the US), but I can't imagine doing the same in the US. I wonder if this informed a good amount of the things in the Oslo transportation plan that seem like they don't go far enough. Meanwhile in the US, our drivers are pretty murderous, we truly need to do far more to compensate for horrible drivers.
Norway (also Sweden) is perfect for cycling, the drivers on the road are imho the most relaxed/careful drivers anywhere, everyone doesnt seem to be in a hurry.
The lack of bike infrastructure is not even really such a big problem because of that.
I`ve cycled there a couple of times and it`s a great country to do long distance cycling in, certainly in the summer. (eventhough its a bit steep)
There are low speed limits, and VERY expensive penalties for messing up. And, the general vibe is that the one driving the metal machine of doom is responsible for keeping blood off the bumper. Also, I think low population density makes people more chill in general.
As a Norwegian, I noticed a distinct difference between drivers in urban and hinterland areas. The closer people get to urban or touristy areas, the more edgy they get. People from the country side just felt just smoother. :)
@@willek1335 Yep. The difference is massive.
The terrain is by far the biggest hurdle for good Norwegian cycling culture. The political will to improve the infrastructure is there, but even the biggest cities are very hilly.
@@magnushanesand3492 Electric bikes are causing a revolution in bike adoption, though!
I had a chance to cycle thru Bergen and Tromso recently. As to someone, who lived in the USA for the past 25 years, it's a bit shocking to realize how far behind the US is in terms of cycling culture. Even if Norways' bike infrastructure isn't perfect, drivers' courtesy awareness makes up for it.
I have been living in Oslo my entire life and the bicycle infrastructure is for sure getting better. I aquired an e-bike last year and its definetly the best way to get around town. Most of the city is available within a 10-15 minute bikeride from the city center. Additionally the public transport is great.
That footpath/cycle path alongside the E18 from Aker Brygge is ancient. I used to walk along it to work when I lived in Oslo nearly 20 years ago. (I came over the footbridge you mentioned and walked away from the city for 20 minutes or so.)
I was lucky enough to visit Oslo and being Dutch I was surprised how little cars there were! I tell people all the time that bicycle lights and separated lanes etc are really car infrastructure and not biking infrastructure and Oslo is a perfect example.
Thank you for a very informative video! I'm a all-year biker in Oslo and I'm surprized by how you accurately could find the frustrations of us local bikers. You also filmed my bike in the clip! You 're actually able to get substidized winter tyres, services and at home bike parking if you bike in Oslo all year. This is part of the measures the municipality takes in order to make it more climate friendly.
I have to say though that I actually disagree on having raised bike lanes. There is snow, water, leaves and dirt collected there that makes it difficult for the muncipality the swipe and clean fast enough. It also makes it a real hazzle to cross and get up again when you're riding a big or heavy e-bike. The car drivers are mostly very kind and will not splash you or cut you off, so I don't see the problem of being on the same level, but with lines indicating the difference. The cobble stone and slow trams and the big tram tracks are the worst. I've broken both elbows of seperate occations biking - one time i got caught in the tram tracks at Prof. Ascehoughs plass and one time I had to move away from a group of drunk people under some scaffolding and i hit the curb.
And i agree to wanting more bike parking in Bjørvika, as well as other places and that the tram street in Bjørvika from Gamlebyen all the way to Aker Brygge is not the greatest for biking. It's like the planners actively tried to make the worst possible timing with the traffic lights. So I usually drive on red for all of the traffic lights when there is no cars/people which is often. And there is a big problem with theft in the centre. I will never park a bike at Oslo S during the evening/night. You will end up with half the bike - something that only started to happen about 4 years ago. I wish there were more involvement with the police/security. And you can't even park outside in public places like a university if you want most insurences to cover a stolen bike. I saw that in Japan they have an automatic undergorund bike parking - that would be lovely to see in the future.
It's also interesting to see the attitude norwegian people have towards bikers compared to Copenhageners and other city people. I feel there is a slight stigma here maybe that we could change with marketing. It's usually moms, dads or the sporty businessman who bikes all year around. I feel that most young peoples reaction when they hear that I bike is that they give the side eye. I wonder why when it's so fast, liberating and eco friendly to ride a bike everywhere. But, I'm not gonna lie - it's a hazzle to park (secure it with two strong chains), and in the winter to put away to ugly lobster mittens, helmet, cap, sun glasses, rain trousers and reflective gear in front of collegues and student friends. So it's perhaps not so strange that I get looks :D I hope more of us bikes in the coming years! I love it! It's 15 minutes to everywhere you want go go.
9:40 not just the sound of the motor traffic, but the smell/air pollution too!
I really think you should do a video on the city of Umeå, Sweden, it's an example of a city with extremely high bicycle use, much higher than the capital Stockholm, in a city that's 1/20th the size.
The amount of bicycles you see here honestly rivals that of even cities in the Netherlands, it is truly a real bicycle city, and it has an extremely well-developed network of bicycle paths and intelligent traffic-sensing systems similar to the ones you showed in your video "Why the Dutch Wait Less at Traffic Lights". I think it could really showcase how much can be done on an individual city level, and that you don't have to be in the Netherlands to be able to build a city where truly everything can be done by bicycle.
That this is true in a city located only 300km from the polar circle, and also has pretty low housing prices (just $500/month for a good apartment, but can be had for even less) could also be some interesting points in the video. That a walkable city has to be expensive seems to be a very common belief.
Great video as always! ❤
Last year I've been to several cities in east and central Europe. I was surprised by the amount of bicycles in Bratislava and Poznań. Perhaps you can do a future video on these cities.
Or Wrocław!
Thank you for filming, selecting and sharing! :-)
On Oslo: there is some network of shared electric scooters ("scooter" in Dutch: "autoped" or "step"), too. Some two or three years ago, RailCowGirl, a train driver usually on the Oslo - Bergen line, showed using one to get from her hotel to the train depot.
Suggestion: Liège (Belgium, in Dutch "Luik", in German "Lüttich"). I have cycled a few times from Maastricht railway station into the valley of the river Ourthe, crossing through Liège. The first time, I got lost in the city and bewildered by the many cars. The second time, I happened to notice a signpost that conveniently led me onto a network (well, some Y-shape perhaps) of dedicated cycling roads with (very few) signposts. I may have lost that route only in a little park.
Tip: ride the left bank of the Maas/Meuse between Maastricht and Liège, and pay attention while navigating the islands on the very border (which also is the language border).
It's awesome to see the Norwegians adopting the STOMP-principle we have in the Netherlands (at 2:40) - Stappen/trappen/OV/MaaS/privé-auto's (or walking, peddling, public transport, commercial and car sharing services, and finally cars). Keep it up and it'll end up alright.
Also, nice to hear Jason hear more anglicised cycle-lingo (staples, bollards, "conflict") :D.
It may be something first adopted here in the Netherlands, but it makes sense in any city. Walking is the most space-efficient form of transport, and private cars are the least space-efficient. Since space is always at a premium in cities, especially if you want to keep your city compact and avoid sprawl, incentivising the most space-efficient form of transport and disincentivising the least space-efficient always makes the most sense.
Thank you for visiting my city. It is worth noting that unfortunately, the state controls many roads, such as "Dronning Eufemias gate," which is the road you mentioned that cyclists dislike, and a handful of others. The problem is that the local authorities cannot set speed limits or reduce traffic (in these roads) because it falls under the jurisdiction of the motorway department. This is an unsatisfactory situation. Additionally, they are expanding a big freeway into Oslo and one inside the city center. You may have mentioned this, but I did not watch everything and will revisit later.
As a native of Oslo, I can say that when things improve in Oslo, they also seem to somehow worsen. For instance, the conflicts between motorists and cyclists have intensified lately. I hope it is like "the last days of Rome," with Rome being the motorists.
It's sad to see that in Norway smaller towns and cities lag behind the larger ones. I live in Drammen and I used to live in Haugesund and there really isn't any good cycling infrastructure either place. There are improvements made but they're marginal and slow. In addition the public transit is spotty and often delayed which of course just leads to even more driving. So while it's exciting to see progress in large cities like Oslo and Bergen, in smaller Norwegian towns the car still reigns.
Oslo is the only city that is actually really trying, sadly. E.g. bergen now wants to take the national standard for bike/pedestrian infrastructure, which is already pretty damn bad, and then downgrade it a lot, despite having a goal of becoming a "bike city"...
Just be glad you don't live in Ålesund, cycle infrastructure here is an map of an obstacle course and a few scatterd bike signs.
And the city itself have the shittiest pavements and to many drivers that makes it on my deathlist.
@@omfghai2u Appart from Sola I visited Bergen for the first time during a covid summer holiday and it got STOLEN outside of the Fishery Museum!
Just an anecdote that may or may not back up your claim of Bergen bike infrastructure or my plan of burning down Bergen again.
I went to Oslo 4/5 years back and rented a bike to cycle round the city. It was amazing! I had no issues on a bike. I found more cycling lanes than I have here in the UK and they were maintained! Everything was so clean. I'm used to cycling lanes in terrible conditions here.
I've lived in Norway for 6 months, the thing that terrifeid me was right hand turns where allowed on red. Sometimes the crossing would show green for pedestrians and there would be a car coming from the left. fucking terrifying
I'm doing an exchange semester in San Francisco and people are surprised I don't have a license at 21. I just tell them that I never needed it, I've always just taken the public transportation and city bikes/personal bike back home in Oslo. City bike is unlimited use for 50-60 usd for a whole year.
Can you please come to Sofia, Bulgaria. I need someone to show how much of a car-centric hell it has become
I remember the highway bridge at Ullevål Stadion before they built the new one. It was a narrow metal construction that didn't leave much room for things like strollers or wheelchairs - not that those were often brought up there are all, as the access points were exclusively stairs with some ramps fitted onto the rather steep steps. Anyone biking across the highway usually took a different bridge a few minutes further up the hill.
One thing I find annoying about our current bicycle infrastructure, apart from when we're suddenly dropped into confusing and/or dangerous intersections, is how hills in 40km/h zones will generally only have a bike lane on the uphill side. This is fine for streets with a steep enough grade to reach a similar speed on a bike or where the traffic is low, but they recently finished the major part of a street rebuild where I frequently take the bus and did the same thing there. That street is brimming with car traffic at most given times (especially in rush hour), and the bicycle commuters going downhill look very small and exposed compared to the cars around them. A painted gutter like the uphill side would've fit easily; they managed to do it on both the bottom and the top of the hill.
I ride an e-scooter due to carrying a trombone around on my back (it's too long to really agree with most bicycle), which won't really roll freely down hills unless the grade is noticeable to the scooter - ergo I often get stuck going 20km/h in an unprotected 40km/h downhill street. That alone makes me want to invest in a cargo bike when I have the money and, most importantly, space.
As you point out, we're in a transitional period, and a lot of good choices are being made. The fact that I at 23 years old still don't have a driver's license is an indicator of how good the public transit is in my area. I hope other cities and towns in Norway can become less car dependent too, though I know that's a hard ask in the more remote places in the country (of which there are a fair few. Give Northern Norway a railway please)
Thanks for the visit and for the review! It's always nice hearing what people from outside have to say, as there is a lot to learn from it :)
"Oslo doesn't salt their streets," lol. There is SO MUCH SALT in the winter! Especially along the main bike routes in the city center, that are prioritized for salting. We DON'T salt sidewalks though (except high traffic ones), preferring sand or gravel.
Edit: You can actually see the bike path being colored white by the salt at around 18:38.
5:20 That might come down to the fact, as I understand it at least, is that a cycle is car light. If a cycle hits a pedestrian, is treated as a car minus some. Cycles are however considered soft traffic users if hit by a car.
7:41 We had a terror attack quite a few years ago centered at Regjeringkvartalet and Utøya. Atleast we want to keep cars away from directly driving into any department.
Hello from Oslo :) Great video, you were outside of my flat! You also commented on the exact raised cycle path that goes slightly uphill I was admiring literally 4 days ago. Mind blown over the timing of this
I'm very curious what you'd think about Vilnius - there's been a huge leap towards a cycling friendly city (0 km to 170 km of high quality paths in the last ~5 years). But recently, a backlash from drivers in regards to streets being made narrower, so not sure what'll happen next. Also missing out on many elements of great infrastructure.
It's really similar to what's happening in Montreal. We just finished a few cycle tracks with raised crossings and a few under construction and planning.
Montreal is just missing trams
I remember going to Norway after 5 years, and not just the cities are changing, also sidewalks for walking and cycling outside the cities have expanded massively, but the country is huge. It will take a while before they have it everywhere, especially in the areas that have lots of tunnels
I would love to see this type of transit and infrastructure forward-thinking in NA. Thank you for educating us all on what we're missing out on!
Would really like you see Helsinki bike infrastructure. The situation is similar to oslo as we are evolving. The city has a plan for a baana(bike highway) network spanning the whole city. You should go see the first baana an old railroad track going trough the city in a ditch that was converted to a bike highway 10 years ago.
Salt only works to about -15C, so if the weather gets colder than that for a reasonable proportion of the winter, grit is the better option. We do that in northwest Ontario also generally.
I kind of prefer it actually because you don't get salt stains on your shoes, although of course the grit can track inside it's not as damaging
You should really visit Bergen to as they recently built the worlds longest cycling tunnel!
As someone from Oslo that follows your channel, I consider the city as very walkable, but the cycle and pedestrian friendliness are not at Dutch level. However when I moved to the city 13 years ago, i noticed immediately that there were a lot of bike paths, namely along busy streets and intersections. That was a massive upgrade from what I experienced for instance in southern Europe.
But the best part of the city is that you can take the bus or metro to the northern city edge, which is only 10k from downtown, and from there there is a big 430km2 undeveloped forest to explore with many gravel roads, hiking paths, lakes, huts and cabins to enjoy during your free time.
During the winter the ski association prepares hundreds of kms of ski tracks for cross country skiing. During the summer you bike or run. It's awesome.
The bike path you found west of Oslo, also follows many of the major roads going east. I commute from the border to the next county in the north-east and all the way to near the central station by bike, and it is remarkably simple. Two-way protected path all the way, wide enough to pass/be passed by other cyclists, and maintained all year round. My commute by public transport would be about the same time spent, but less rewarding at the end of the week. But I totally agree on the "too good public transport". We always complain, but we know how high of a standard we keep.
I was there in 2020 and it was great getting around via walking and public transport and I was there at the start of February.
I felt so safe being on my feet there and crossing roads and how simple it was to get to places and this was my second city on my trip after Copenhagen so it was further cementing into my mind of great urban planning.
As an Australian I found it funny by the end of my whole Scandinavian holiday I got to the point where I was confident I could cross any road and I know cars would always be aware of me and slow down, but back home there is no way in hell that would ever happen!
Would be interesting if you did some videos on other Norwegian cities for comparison. Your experience mirrors mine in terms of the way cycling infrastructure can be poorly defined. I found I was having to get off my bike and walk and that gave it a very fragmented / discontinuous feel. The trams add to the the complexity, but with the right routes, it should, in theory, be easy to avoid them. One of the pleasures of cycling in Oslo is the ability to cycle around the fjord. I've cycled from the peninsula opposite the city and back into town on protected cycle paths for like 40km. You can also take bikes onto ferries. Oh yeah, I have cycled in that area shown and it's quite unpleasant. Generally Norwegian drivers aren't used to competing for space and it feels dangerous (for Norway).
This is just my speculation and I am not sure if it's correct, but I think one of the reasons to why some cities like Oslo for example might not have continuous sidewalks and bike paths is because of the give way rule. In Germany for example, a continuous curb always mean that you're on priority road and don't need to give way while an intersection with the sidewalk and bike lane ending and no priority signs mean that you need to yield to drivers from the right.
I'd love you to check out Helsinki, maybe also the business parks of Vantaa near the airport. Last summer I watched many of your videos with american business parks/stroads and then I visited Vantaa for car repair, it actually looked really nice in comparison.
I had a feeling that NJB uploaded today, and lo and behold there was this video.
Truly a bizarre experience to see places I frequent featured on this channel. Perhaps equally bizarre to hear you say that Oslo has "no traffic", but I suspect that congestion is relative.
There is a difference between the downtown city center and Ring 3 / E18 / E6 / Østre Aker'n. The major arteries certainly get congested, and there is always someone in the city government who wants to expand them. But downtown Oslo, even during rush hour, is not congested.
I'm so excited you came to my city! I'm a former Calgarian who moved to Oslo about 5 years ago. The cycling infrastructure certainly isn't perfect, but what an improvement compared to my former home in western Canada! Hope you can make it back here soon :)
You should do a video about Montreal, its been getting more and more protected bike lanes and it has a really good transit system for a north American city with lots of new projects getting built
20:37 I lived in Norway a few years ago, and learnt enough to understand what this says. Tusen takk, I giggled.
And yes, norwegian is a very useful language for you since you already speak dutch and english.
Really interesting video! Oslo from this video feels maybe a step or two ahead of Dublin. Which is encouraging to see. Possibly Dublin might be a bigger cycling city in the end as our public transportation system isn't as developed.
Keep up this great effort to inform the world about the benefites of Bicycle Commuting! We at The Dandy Horse believe in your work!
Makes me sad to live in Houston area. There is a nice bike/walk path where I live but it’s interrupted by 50+mph road noise
I watched the video where you talked about channels that sparked ur curiosity in proper urban planning, I subscribed to them and there videos algorithm overpowered urs, was so happy when this one came up.
I like protected bicycle lanes. I personally think bicycle lanes with a painted line along a road where cars drive 60-80 km/h is scary.
Oslo is one of those cities which have a ton of good infrastructure for public transport and pedestrians. I've never had the thought of needing a bike, and I have been many times there for various errands.
6:58 this is the best vehicular cycling compromise. It’s so perfect. I suddenly love modal filters, and am going to suggest this because it really is the best compromise that everyone understands and enjoys.
I did some cycling through Oslo on my way to and from Lofoten/Tromø in last august. And yes I even cycled through the not-so-nice spots shown in 8:32. As you have explained I also concluded that there is a lot of new cycling infrastructure, but it often is very confusing or just incomplete.
And like in every other large city: if there is a road construction site, bike infrastructure is completely ignored.
Oslo is where paris was a few years ago at the start of big changes
Ah, my two biggest peeves in Seattle... jerks parking in no-parking bike lanes and bus stops in the middle of the park path
Another nice review, pretty interesting. Still waiting on your visit to Montreal J, you have fans here and 70km of planned new bike lanes awaiting you this year.
Lol 19:24 is 40m away from my house. The cycling infrastructure is better then it looks tho, once you make it over to the other side of the road them you are 200 meters away from tour de finance along the highway and the coast. The sidewalk on the other side is also separated from the road and wide enough you can cycle past someone walking.
It's also cool how he took video of my high school. It is 50 meters away from the 4 way bridge. He definitely showed the most important parts of the city :)
Great video on my hometown! I would be very interested to know exactly when this was filmed, because the traffic volume was definitely way lower than what I am used to in rush hours.
Also, the shopping street that was built before the new guidelines has a prettty ok bikeway if you take some of the side streets. It isn't very well marked or easy to find, so a lot of people don't know about it and take the shopping street full of cars and trams.
Interesting video! Oslo seems to be heading in the right direction. I noticed that the city looks a bit dirty because of all gravel, which is also the case in Stockholm, but not to the same extent. As soon as the snow melts away, you will see dust clouds everywhere, which I really hate. I know that the streets will be cleaned as soon as Spring arrives, so it gets better over time. I understand why they use gravel and in some ways, it's a great solution. Another disadvantage of Oslo, is that the suburbs are mostly situated on rather steep hills, which makes it harder to bike. Maybe it's easier with electric bikes or when you do it for exercising. Good to see improvements being made and coming! One thing I really like about Scandinavia, is that cars usually stop when pedestrians or bikers want to cross. This is rather uncommon in The Netherlands, unfortunately.
Glad to see you’ve come to Oslo. I’ve been following your channel for a while and really enjoy your videos. We’ve recently moved back here after two years in Japan and decided to not buy a car but a cargo bike instead. The upgrades in bike infrastructure make that a viable option. Even with two kids. A lot of the footage you used is quite familiar. I use the tour de finance to go to work. My wife is passing over the bridge at Ullevål stadium 😂
Unfortunately, you have to way too positive impression of our public transport system. It all looks good on paper but in reality it often sucks. We live in the north east of town and my wife works in the north west. That’s a 15min car ride through the north of the city but if you take the train you have to go all the way south and into the city center, through the city, change trains and up north again on the west side. That ends up to be 45-50min. Oh, and our train line will now be closed due to constant between May and September. 🤷♂️
Good thing we bought a tern gsd so my wife can use that to go to work.
You should come back in the summer. Beautiful riding. Not just in the city. Also in the country and the forest just north.
Welcome to NYC! Where mopeds, quads, deliveries, motorcycle, even joggers have priority on the Bicycle Lane! AKA, the snow dumping lane in the Winter. Extra sweet!
Having a look at bicycle infrastructure in Bergen would be very interesting
Your content is super engaging and unique, and its awesome to view these European urban areas as an example of how my home country (the U.S) should be planning these. I wish you well on your journey to 1million subscribers!
Hey, thanks for reporting on our city! Live here and can confirm your observations, they were really good!
Yes - there are still a lot of improvements missing, like raising the bike path up from street level, many times, which it seems like the city is too lazy/cheap to do in many cases, even after the new guidelines have been introduced. Also bike paths tend some places to stop abruptly, still there are very good kilometer signs and guiding signs to destinations reachable by bike, this has gotten very good.
And you made us optimistic that it will improve even more, as streets have to wear down and be replaced to new standards can be introduced.
And many Norwegians are actually very healthy, because as you saw, we like to walk a lot, even when we don’t cycle that much. 😄
Ebikes is what saved us. Am not sure however, in which degree you realised how hilly Oslo really is, it is actually very hilly if you are going to
use a bike to the suburbs. Also, Norway isn’t that densely populated, so this is part of the explanation why it is car centric, but things are changing - bike paths are also being built at smaller, local places outside the cities, even though people mostly prefer to use the car. So things are improving albeit slowly.
Rode a bike to and in Olso in 2012. Some road was so bumpy my rear wheel quick release opened, but it was nothing compared to a car reversing to my front wheel in an intersection when they decided to change their route... geez.
They should plant tall shrubberies or dense trees next to that freeway. Would filter noise, pollution and help with wind.