The twenty-odd centimeters from the grass verge to the white line at the edge of the road don't seem like much, as we are out with Lena Lorentzen looking at the road that, according to locals, is downright dangerous for cyclists and pedestrians.
Her two black sneakers can barely fit there, and as the rushing wind pressure from a passing truck tears at her hair, she exclaims after quickly stepping a couple of steps out onto the verge:
- That kind of thing is just so annoying when one's children have to cycle here!
Lena's daughter, Eva, age six, is actually quite good at cycling, but she is not allowed—much to her annoyance.
That privilege goes to her older brother Aksel, age ten—because it's also not fun for him to be dependent on his parents either.
- But it's always with a lump in our stomach that we send him out on this road, Lena Lorentzen says.
Lena Lorentzen is one of many locals who immediately signed a citizen proposal for a bike path. Therefore, the matter has gained political focus.
We are on Ørslevvej in southern Zealand. The country road connects two smaller towns outside Vordingborg.
Here, several others from the area tell how they also drive their children to school, leisure activities, and the like. They themselves also jump in the car, even though the distance to their work could be managed by bike. With a bike path, a couple of them could even do without their second car.
Therefore, it was also quick to gather support for a citizen proposal for a bike path, which Vordingborg Municipality's city council recently asked the administration to look into.
And Ørslevvej is far from a unique case.
Lena Lorentzen and her children, Aksel and Eva, wish for a bike path. (Photo: © Mads Raagaard, DR)
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'We are missing out on quite a large potential'
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- Missing bike paths unfortunately too often mean that someone who would otherwise like to cycle refrains from cycling, states Jens Peter Hansen, who is chairperson of the Danish Cyclists' Federation.
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> The state needs to step up with initiatives that support the municipalities.
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The country roads are simply unsafe for cyclists, and the problem is only getting bigger, he believes.
Partly because cars on Danish roads are getting wider ( https://mobility.dk/nyheder/danske-personbiler-er-blevet-markant-stoerre/ ). But also because e-bikes are otherwise giving more and more people the opportunity to cycle longer distances.
- Quite a lot of people have the ability to cycle 10-15 kilometers from a smaller town into a larger city, points out Jens Peter Hansen.
- But that would typically take place on country roads without bike paths.
He concludes:
- By not having proper infrastructure, we are missing out on quite a large potential where we could give people a lot of good experiences, give them good health, and remove some of the congestion in the cities and in the parking lots.
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More money and a distance requirement
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In Vordingborg Municipality, experience shows that it costs about 5.5 million kroner per kilometer to build a bike path.
That will of course play a role when the politicians on the municipal council have to decide on the bike path along Ørslevvej, says chairman of the nature, technology, and environment committee in the municipality, Peter Ole Sørensen from Venstre.
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> It will mean that we are heard in the local community. That would really be nice.
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And Jens Peter Hansen can well understand that it is a lot of money to find in a municipal budget.
- I myself sat for 24 years as a municipal politician in Randers and know the dilemma well, he says.
The dilemma is reinforced by the fact that the societal benefit of more people getting on their bikes, according to Jens Peter Hansen, benefits the regions and the state—for example in the form of lower healthcare costs—while the municipalities have to pay for building and maintaining the bike paths.
- The state needs to step up with initiatives that support the municipalities, is his message.
Specifically, there needs to be more money at play, and a requirement for motorists to keep a minimum distance when overtaking cyclists.
Jens Peter Hansen wants a legal requirement for motorists to keep a minimum distance from cyclists. That is the case in many other European countries, he points out.
At the edge of Ørslevvej, Lena Lorentzen imagines how a bike path will give both her and her family a feeling of more freedom.
- But it will also mean that we are heard in the local community. That would really be nice, she says.
Because even though she and her neighbors have chosen to live in the countryside. Here—where there can also be a long time between buses—they also have the right to a "just okay" infrastructure, she believes.
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