Bicycle Scenes from Alkmaar, Netherlands
A historic and compact city north of Amsterdam, we explore many tiny streets, pedestrian streets, bicycle streets, amongst the usual protected bike lanes, people of all ages and abilities riding bicycles, tulips, windmills, and some very changeable weather…
Alkmaar was a couple of trains from Schipol Airport, and about 40 minutes if I recall correctly. This destination was less about the bike infrastructure and more about the compact old town. We had a great place on the canal above the red shopfront to the right of the photo below…
Sitting at the window watching things go by was always interesting, from watching people manage the rain that came and went every five minutes, to the challenges as one or two delivery vehicles park and cause others to struggle to get by. My limited observations saw one bike being run over by a turning van and the awning almost ripped off one of the buildings opposite as a van driver squeezed around the corner. one cargo bike was at least moved by a van driver, but in a manner I wouldn’t have been happy with if it was mine… and some surprisingly big trucks navigating through that very narrow street on the far side. I didn’t actually take photos witnessing any of that, but here was the view and the DHL van tightening up that access on the far side…
Pedestrian Streets
I’ve talked before about our somewhat incorrect use of the term Woonerf in North America for any curbless street (see previous posts) when in reality, if it’s a commercial street of some sort, it should just be a pedestrian zone or pedestrian street. It’s just easier to understand for most people relative to some strange word that few know how to pronounce from another country… Vehicles still permitted at some times…
People on bicycles are still allowed…
Even big black trucks are still allowed… Interestingly, I feel like I saw more big black trucks on this trip than all previous trips combined…
Back to bikes…
Where we struggle to pedestrianize one street in our Downtowns in North America, many, if not most city centres in The Netherlands are largely pedestrianized. A block across from the above street is another pedestrian street that incorporates a lot of greenspace. That’s quite unusual for the Netherlands in my experience… Kids getting around by themselves not unusual at all… It’s another world…
Another entrance to the centre with camera enforced restrictions…
Small Streets
These small streets might look like pedestrian only streets but they allow vehicle access too. There’s something about exploring all these little streets, it just feels so different… The Dutch word gezellig maybe applies here…
Love a riding bike with umbrella photo…
Biking is fine if it’s not too busy…
But maybe it’s just easier to walk some times…
It’s not all commercial streets… plenty of small residential streets…
Small Streets at Night
This is still quite a wide street but it qualifies as the paved area is pretty narrow…
Honestly… This one feels like someone asked AI to create an image of a cute Dutch street at night… It’s real though…
Streets like this are possible when you don’t have to accommodate car parking, vehicles still use this, it’s just not the norm…
Another…
And another…
Heading out of the City
We didn’t explore too much around Alkmaar, but we did take a trip southeast one day largely to see a very unique bridge… But there were many other interesting things along the way… Tulip fields and an impending storm…
Windmills… and a bi-directional bike path for most of the ride…
The storm caught up with us just by these windmills… Luckily, just as we were passing this rural bus stop with shelter. It was a great place to wait it out… On this trip at least, there was rarely sustained rain, and the wind would blow it past as fast as it arrived… Hiding out for a few minutes was the usual technique when some form of shelter was available…
Next, not the best photo in the world, but I’m curious about this odd traffic calming at this roundabout… They seem like they’d be pretty jarring if hit at any speed, and I almost feel like they might cause a driver to lose control more so than if they weren’t there, but I could be wrong…
We were on a bi-directional bike path… Except where a temporary diversion took us onto local roads… We didn’t take any chances this time ignoring the diversion, and we were on pretty nice little rural roads. We did have to move into the grass to let a couple of vehicles by though…
But were soon back on the bike path…
Our destination… the unique Melkweg Brug in Purmerend… It provides a snaking path that meets grade requirements for cyclists and wheelchairs, and I’m going to say… an alternative pedestrian bridge if you’re feeling fit (it’s 12m high), want a nice view, or don’t want to wait for a boat to pass while the lower option is open to boats (and closed to people). I’d say it’s more of a tourist attraction - it got us there - or iconic piece of pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, that like the Hovenring in Eindhoven, demonstrates a level of investment and greater consideration for people walking and rolling…
Another angle…
Looking down from above… You can see below the joint where it opens, but it splits in the middle too, so the two halves both rotate out of the way for boats… Honestly, it’s quite the climb to get up there…
There’s a huge bike path leading you all the way to it through the newer neighbourhood on one side of the canal…
To the older centre on the other…
Some more info here… https://www.archdaily.com/295646/melkwegbrug-next-architects
That big red bike path keeps going for a bit even as the land use changes from multi-family to large single family homes…
And then we end up on some advisory bike lanes, where we again see their downfall, with many drivers keeping their position in their little grey strip, and essentially close passing everyone on a bike. Made worse here given the posted speed is 60 km/h. I’m certain they would give more space if it was one continuous surface…
All sorts happening on this lower speed advisory lane section…
I think it’s still 30 km/h here… but i’m going to say this isn’t comfortable for most…
Bicycle Streets
We found this bicycle street by chance looking for a bike shop on foot. Everyone seemed happy enough using it, but even just walking along, it seemed like there was more traffic than is preferred on such a street. I’d be curious what the vehicle volumes were…
interestingly, the signs facing you coming out of the side street warn you that you’re entering a bicycle street…
Bicycle friendly waste receptacles…
The rain was on and off all day here. You can’t see it in the photo, but it’s raining pretty hard… Also… take a close look at the sign on the far side… it translates to something like “the right speed is to leave at the right time”… Guessing as well as the seemingly high volume… people are driving too fast along here too…
Someone has an e-bike…
Windmills and a Dutch peleton…
I wonder if more traffic calming would slow people on cars down to a similar speed as those on bicycles to reduce passing… Some bicycle streets in The Netherlands feature very subtle speed humps that do very little. Speed cushions are the way forward in my opinion… maybe even in The Netherlands…
Electric buses are great for emissions i’m sure, but they could still give a little more space when passing… In North America, I wished rather than a minimum passing distance we just had a rule to change lanes to pass…
The fietsstraat pavement marking… Better than a sharrow…
The Free Ferry
Just like Amsterdam has its free ferries for short trips to North Amsterdam, Alkmaar has this little boat to get you across the canal, it’s literally a stones throw of a journey…
View from the far side…
Bike Lanes and Intersections
Of course there are protected bike lanes, but less so in the centre, and more around the periphery… But I should probably share a few…
Wide PBL with no buffer…
Compact protected roundabout…
Intersection of PBL’s…
Not all good… They still have painted door zone bike lanes though…
Three lanes at an intersection with a lane for each movement is the secret to a safe intersection with no conflicts… The through movements go for all modes, then the vehicle turns go, then the perpendicular movements go. No vehicle conflict with people walking or biking, no vehicles conflict with each other. I guess there’s still scope for rear ends, or someone jumping a light, but generally a much safer design… A case of more vehicle lanes improving safety for active modes…
With nearside signals, these wacht (or wait) countdown timers provide reassurance your turn is coming and help you get ready for your light to change as the dots slowly count down. Not sure of the positioning of this one, as you can’t easily see it from the stop bar… Also check the multi-storey parking in the background, not an uncommon thing in The Netherlands, and if removes the need for on-street parking I’m in favour of it…
Typical protected intersection…
Cutting through the ped crossing…
Getting a helping hand is common for young kids presumably making the shift from cargo bike to their own bike at a young age…
TWSI’s (Tactile Walking Surface Indicators)
I wouldn’t say The Netherlands is the best place to look for accessible infrastructure, but they still often do it better than we’re doing right now in North America. This example uses parallel bars like what we’re starting to use occasionally in North America…
But they also have TWSI bricks, at a bus stop this time…
Canal Bridges
At the famous cheese museum…
Technically this is the steps and ramp up to a bridge… Ramp too circuitous I guess…
More little lift bridges…
Different style…
Again, sunny one minute, about to be torrential rain the next… More conventional bridge…
Other Alkmaar Scenes
The Dutch do like a flag… Not that that’s a bad thing…
And Tulips of course…
As shown above, they’re not opposed to a multi-storey car park or two… not everyone rides a bike… And, if you don’t bike or drive, you have the electric bus…
Bit random… But with such narrow and steep staircases in most Dutch buildings, this is how you get things in and out…
Train crossing…
Market scenes…
School run…
No hard drugs beyond this point…
More kids gaining their own freedom…
More windmills…
People getting around Alkmaar…
Canal side homes are pretty similar and all slightly different across the country…
Another…
You don’t get the full experience of the rain in this photo, but it was biblical…
Then it stopped… reflecting on Alkmaar…
The Netherlands in April, even when it’s sunny… it’s raining…
And that is all for Alkmaar... In the next part, we head over to the island of Texel, and then work our way day by day across the north towards Groningen.