The fair city of Ghent is set to pick up a new cycling record soon. Flanders' busiest cycle route, along the Coupure, will clock up more than 3 million cyclists this year. Yet again, this is more than the previous year. Ghent expects the total number to rise to 3.2 million.
More than 8,000 per day: that is how many cyclists ride along the busy bicycle boulevard along the Coupure every day.
A bicycle boulevard is a road designed to prioritise cyclists, making them the main users, while motor vehicles are allowed but are treated as guests, requiring low speeds (often under 30 km/h) and yielding to bikes, often with features like red pavement, traffic calming features, and signs to encourage this hierarchy. They are popular in the Netherlands but also in Belgium.
The Coupure is a canal, built in 1751, under Empress Maria Theresia of Austria, who then ruled the Southern Netherlands. It connects the River Leie with the Bruges Canal. The bicycle boulevard is located on the canal’s left bank.
According to Ghent alderman Joris Vandenbroucke, the achievement on the Coupure is no coincidence. ‘The street is located on a route that is already very busy. By giving cyclists absolute priority and preventing cars from overtaking them, it becomes more comfortable and safer, and the street is attracting even more cyclists.’
The enormous traffic on this road does, however, create new challenges, as different types of road users have to take each other into account more and more often. According to Vandenbroucke, the speed difference between electric bikes and young children in particular requires extra vigilance. The alderman is keen to emphasise that safety depends on mutual respect on the road.
‘When it's very busy, cyclists must take each other into account, whether you're riding a fast electric bicycle or are a small child: you have to adjust your speed to the traffic,’ concludes Vandenbroucke.