If You Build It......

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to be on holidays in NL along with my wife in our trusty VW camper (Bertie). This was my first time in NL but I know it will not be my last.

As a cyclist I was aware of the culture in NL for cycling. How flat it was and just how many cyclists are about. Nothing however could have prepared me for the actual sight! Cycling is just the norm. From the school drop off, daily commute and everything in between the bike is used.

The top picture is an example of the Junction Network which covers most of NL whilst the one beside is an example route we completed. The concept is simple, you decide how far you want to go and the plot the route from point to point and off you go. Once such use me made of this was when we missed a ferry and decided on a whim to cycle around one of the many national parks. We found the map, planned the route and off we went. Close to 50km later we arrived back at the same spot with no need for GPS.

We met so many people that day doing exactly the same thing and all having a blast enjoying the scenery and getting some exercise. Now for those who have not been to NL you may ask what made it so enjoyable. The answer, a safe and well thought out separated off-road cycling network allowing for traffic free riding.

The amazing thing is, this infrastructure is not just there around parks, it has been integrated into the entire country. Pretty much anywhere you find a road, you will find a safe and secure cycle path beside it. An example being how we managed to cycle into Rotterdam off-road on we maintained cycle paths. Now its not that NL has no cars, they have, a lot, but both driver and cyclist due to the infrastructure provided co-exist without issue (for the most part) and it really is something you need to see to believe.

Returning to NI our lack of safe and secure cycling infrastructure is now even more apparent - There is just no provision for it and where it has been put in place, its been an after thought rather than something that had actually been planned. The rule in NL seems to be if you build a new road, build a new cycle (and walking I should note) path beside it whereas here in NI it seems to be if you build a new road, build it as wide as possible to allow for as much traffic as possible - This in my opinion needs to change and the Department for Infrastructure needs to live up to the promises they have made in the past to make proper provision for safe active travel in NI.

I have worked in IT for a lot of years now across areas such as DR/BCP, storage solutions, infrastructure design and more. In all those areas, planning is key and making provision for what is needed not just now but also in the future is an essential factor. When I started my latest job here at Datactics we sat down and planned out what was required to take the companies IT infrastructure forward. Working together with management we put in place the systems required not just immediately but also those that would be required in the future. Now not all people used all of the systems straight away. Some took a while to come on board, to get used to a new way of working while others jumped straight on board. Now however I can say that all the systems we implemented are used each day and the benefits of all of them are seen right across the company.

So, where am I going with this? Well, I am headed for a simple truth:

If you build it, they will come.

Just as we built systems in Datactics which are now used each day, if the DFI for NI build safe and secure active travel paths beside new planned roads and start to re-look at how these can be added to existing routes they will be used. We will see people doing the school drop off and daily commute along side getting exercise. We will see people not jumping in a car for a shop run but rather jumping on a bike. We will see drivers and cyclists co-existing as they do in NL and in my opinion we will be much better off.

If you have got this far in the post then I assume that active travel is something you are interested in so why not drop me a line and we can continue to talk about the subject and who knows maybe even we can start a revolution leading to an NI Junction Network of our own!

Thanks for reading.