The Locked Gates Of The City

Take a compass and take a map. Draw a circle from the City Centre with a radius of what? 10km? 15km? That should be a nice cycle commute, surely?

We know that over 40% of employees here in Luxembourg travel in daily from beyond the borders, but a sizeable proportion live in the surroundings of the city. With good infrastructure, carefully placed, these fortunate individuals could easily be smugly flying past the rows of stationary cars.

At the moment I believe that safe, direct and well(ish) connected entries to the city by bike are limited to just four: From the South, up the Alzette (and lift), from the East; into Kirchberg from Senningerberg, and on to Oberanven and Junglinster; from the North through Pafendall and up the new lift; and from the West from Mamer and Strassen, although this route is a quite unsatisfactory.

This map has two 15km circles, one centred on Kirchberg, the other the city. It encompasses a surprising amount of the south; pretty much all of it in fact.

So, is this an area worth putting effort into? Do we know if anyone commutes the 15km or so on safe track from Junglinster to Kirchberg, for instance? What “locked gates” are there? For example the Sandweiler roundabout forces the whole of the eastern corridor up to Senningerberg or down to Hesper. And how can we open them up? Are there more “open gates” that I’ve missed?

Comment below.

It’s not long into a ride before my friend is fed up with my cheery sing-song Moiens

“Moien!” , “tsk”, “Moien!”, “oh no”, “Moien!”, “Please stop!”, “Moiiii – eennn!”, “For goodness sake – SHUT UP”

I say “hello” to everyone. To dog walkers, to builders, walkers, workmen, kids out in a crocodile, their teachers; even to (gasp) car drivers. But above all and especially to cyclists. All cyclists. Of all types. It seems very strange to me but apparently there are quite a few who don’t like to acknowledge other “tribes” of the self-propulsion fraternity.

I say hello to full-kit fliers, to old men with a bucket attached to their bikes. I salute those on folding bikes, on VTTs, on tandems, on recumbents, handcycles and tricycles. Fully loaded tourers usually respond, people riding with young kids always do. But why doesn’t everyone? I’ve seen the studied aloofness when roadie meets mountain-biker with my own eyes. I assume it is because of the shape of my bike that those on mountain bikes are the category who ignore me the most.

Yet aren’t we all turning the pedals? Don’t roadies ever go to the shops on a bike? Don’t tourers ever mix it in the dirt when at home? We, surely, are a community; one big tribe. We have differing needs in detail, but overall surely a common interest. I long for the days that here in Luxembourg, like certain other European countries, being a “cyclist” is no more an identity than being a “motorist”. When everyone rides, then we can indulge our tribal instincts. Until that time we should form a united front.

None of us can help ourselves but reflect on the words of Elizabeth West, “When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments”. We pedal, we move. We travel, we breathe. We have fun; we have reached our destination; we have increased our life expectancy. If we have a safe place to ride. This is our fight, surely, not with each other?

So come on – next time you see someone, anyone, turning the pedals wave, smile or greet them – and if you hear that irritating sing-song “Moi-en” in return – then you’ll know it’s me.

Isn’t Rue Sigefroi a nicer place to be now? To walk, to hang out, to shop, to cycle; to be. And we have the lovely new lift for those down there or those coming from the north, no longer the choice between a brutal climb or a longer ride round to the Grund lift. And the views! Tourists will love it.

I’ll tell you what else they’ll love. (more…)

Heatmap centered on Cents. Bigger interactive version

Pedaling from your flat in Cents to go for a swim in the Coque, going by cargo bike from Neudorf to Kirchberg to do your shopping, cycling from Sandweiler to go to work in the city, or walking from your office on Kirchberg to catch the evening train home to Trier in Hamm? It sounds impossible today — the big valley of Neudorf stands forbiddingly in the way — but the City of Luxembourg’s 2006 bicycle concept envisaged a bicycle bridge between Kirchberg and Cents that would make this reality.

This important missing link in the capital’s bike network would connect two major working and residential areas. Thanks to the lift to Neudorf, the bridge will provide residents of this neighborhood a fast connection to the Kirchberg and the city center. The project is of utmost importance, both in terms of daily trips to the tourist networks. It would not only make the capital available to residents of surrounding communities in the East, but would also provide a topographically favorable link to the Moselle region. But after ten years and two drafts of a bridge with a lift to Neudorf, the city’s project has yet to enter a concrete execution phase.

Our friends at the Lëtzebuerger Vëlosinitiativ recently handed in a petition of 1652 signatures to ask the City of Luxembourg to advance its implementation as soon as possible.

Cycleluxembourg’s analysis of the signatories’ postal codes reveals the intensity of participation, and the overwhelming enthusiasm in Cents with 446 signatures. Neudorf is less keen with 66 signatures; on twitter, @luxembourgize tries to offer an explanation.