A bike ride on the high-quality cycling route Ede – Wageningen

Currently, construction is underway on the high-quality cycling route from the centre of Ede to the centre of Wageningen. The route is being developed by the municipalities of Ede and Wageningen in collaboration with the Province of Gelderland and Wageningen University (WUR; Wageningen University & Research). The total length of the route will be 8.4 km.

The brand-new high-quality cycle route from Ede to Wageningen, just south of the train station in Ede, looks spectacular. It is 4.5 metres wide, with a smooth red asphalt surface and a separate section for walking.

At junctions with side streets, the main cycle route has priority, which is unmistakable thanks to the clear design of these intersections.

At this intersection with a more significant side road, an underpass was created. This allows both car traffic and cyclists to flow without interacting.

In my previous post, I showed that cycling in Wageningen could be improved. However, since there’s a university and important schools in the area, a lot of cycling already takes place, especially to the train station located in Ede. This week, I’d like to show the progress on that route under development.

A sign in the town of Bennekom announces the construction of a section of the high-quality cycle route, called Pico Bello Pad.

The route passes through Bennekom, a town located roughly halfway. Many people there also take to their bikes, benefiting significantly from part of the route. Before this route was developed, you could of course already cycle along it, but you often had to stop at intersections. Not all roundabouts prioritised cyclists either. Still, around 5,000 cyclists travelled daily between Ede and Wageningen. This provided a good reason to upgrade the existing infrastructure, not only for current users but also to encourage even more people to choose cycling in the future.

For the new high-quality cycling route, the province organized a naming competition. In June and July 2022, anyone could submit their own name suggestions. Over 400 names were submitted. The jury chose the name “Pico Bello Pad” for the Ede-Wageningen route. This is a reference to the former railway that followed almost the same route. Until 1937, a steam tram named Bello operated passenger services. It was later replaced by a bus, which covered the route in 11 minutes (the steam tram took 35 minutes, while today the bus takes between 29 and 32 minutes!). Freight trains continued to run on the line until 1968, but the line was closed down with a major public celebration, as everyone felt the railway was hindering road traffic. By 1970, the tracks had been removed.

Where the route approaches the built-up area of Wageningen, the existing intersection will be completely reconstructed. Currently, there are one-way cycle paths on all four sides of the roadway, but in the future, they will only be on two sides. These new paths will be bi-directional. This map shows the current situation, with the cycleways marked in red.

This is the future layout. The arrows marked 1 and 2 refer to the following two pictures. The intersection is being redesigned because most car traffic comes from the north and heads west (and vice versa). Therefore, the cycle paths will cross the roads with the least traffic. This is also more convenient, as the main cycle route runs from Grintweg (right) to Hoevestein (bottom). (Plan from the Province of Gelderland.)

Construction on the high-quality cycling route in Ede began at the end of 2022. The route is now complete up to Bennekom (also part of the Ede municipality). On the Wageningen side, the Churchillweg was converted into a bicycle street in February 2023, and the final touches are currently being made.

In Bennekom, one street has already been converted into a bicycle street, but not everyone is satisfied with the outcome. According to some cyclists, motorists aren’t behaving as ‘guests’ yet. The municipality believes that the rest of the work needs to be completed first, after which most people will adjust their behaviour to the new situation. The work in Bennekom is scheduled for the second half of 2024 and will continue into 2025.

This is a current crossing at the intersection shown in the previous pictures, at the location marked as 1. In the new design, this path will be removed and relocated to the left, on the opposite side of the intersection.

This is the current one-way path, looking west, which will soon become bi-directional (see inset). In my video, I cycled against the flow of traffic here for a few hundred metres. I only realised that the path wasn’t yet bi-directional after I had already crossed to this side at the intersection. I decided it was safer to remain on this side than to cross the road twice again. (Inset: picture of the future situation. Still from a video by the Province of Gelderland.)

In Wageningen, the entire provincial road (N781) and its connection to the northern ring road will first need to be modified. This is expected to happen from 2025 onwards. The cycling route crosses the provincial road and runs parallel to a section of the northern ring road. Work on the cycling route will only continue once this car project is completed, which will take several more years. Although not on this route, there will also be a new grade-separated crossing for cyclists over the northern ring road. This will ensure that the world-famous student cycling traffic jam in Wageningen becomes a thing of the past!

In Wageningen, parts of the route have already been constructed, such as here on Churchilllaan, where the street has been converted into a cycle street. It’s quite a novel design with the median. I am curious to see how well this will work in a town where cycle streets are relatively new, and drivers have up to now been somewhat privileged.

You can see what it’s like to cycle the route from Ede to Wageningen in this week’s video.

This week’s video: a ride from train station Ede-Wageningen to Wageningen proper. 7.8km!