Bike Paths and Promenades in Osijek, Croatia
Most people are probably well aware of the Croatian coast, but what are the inland cities like and do they have any bike infrastructure? With just two nights in Osijek, we get a glimpse of what the fourth biggest city in the country is like for getting around by bicycle...
We were staying right in the centre of the city next to the large square (more of a triangle) with tram lines entering from three directions. Unfortunately, while we were there, the trams weren’t running, I think because some repairs or upgrades were being done on one of the lines. Too bad, as I remember sitting having coffee here about 10 years ago with trams passing right by our table… It would have made for a good photo this time around… The one thing I don’t recall is what the bike infrastructure was like back then, so let’s see what’s out there…
After dropping our bags and crossing the street outside our front door, scenes don’t get much better than this… A street for people with some transit sprinkled on top… You might think this is because the trams aren’t running, but there were buses running instead…
Heading down to the riverfront, there are cafes along the riverbanks of the Drava River… With a pathway for people walking and rolling and space separated by just a paint line… It can get congested at times right here… Beyond here is a better separated section of the promenade, which you’ll see later…
There is one pedestrian-only, or should I say active modes bridge across the river… Although other bridges have pedestrian accommodation…
In town, there are bike paths along quite a few of the major streets, this example featuring separate walking and biking paths…
I don’t actually recall how this conflict resolved itself or who yielded to who, I’m thinking the driver stopped… Some warning and directional TWSI’s are good to see…
The use of red surface treatments is interesting; it almost seems haphazardly applied to the ground, and it’s no big deal if it overlaps the island. Maybe it’s just to discourage pedestrians from waiting in the bike crossing area. I don’t recall how much bike infrastructure was here 10 years ago, but it seems like there was a movement a while back that’s maybe stalled more recently. Which might be fine. At what point do you say you’re done? Probably never. Maybe next go-round they can remove these channelized right turns and use the space for proper protected intersections…
Maze gates making life hard for people everywhere… This one was particularly difficult to navigate by bike… Note the tire tracks in the dirt… When safety improvements create unsafe actions, are they really safety improvements?
This is an interesting treatment, or non-treatment, you might say at bus stops… The bi-directional bike path just drops you down into the bus stop pull-out… it works fine with no bus there… If there was a bus stopping, I guess you have the option to wait or go around on the sidewalk…
A protected intersection of sorts facilitating a two-stage left turn for people on bicycles…
Possibly the narrowest protected bike path you’ve ever seen… And although that yellow line is for drainage, it’s also the dividing line between bike path and sidewalk. The crosswalks and crossride make it clear once you reach an intersection… Not complaining, it was still safe…
And you can see here the bike stencil and the bike path leading you into a protected roundabout configuration… Not bad… Not sure why the “no bikes” or “bike lane ends” sign is there though…
A little further along… A newer roundabout with protected crossings for people on bikes… While this looks pretty fresh, the roundabout was added about 10 years ago…
Back down by the riverfront walkway as we cross to the other side of the river, the bike path and blue running track below, and the fortress and Tvrđa, the old town that lies behind it, constructed in 1687… A few photos from inside later…
Looking back at the fortress from the far side of the river…
In case you wondered where you need to be… Like the park in Belgrade with the blue running track, this one is similar, albeit linear… While our focus on most projects these days is of course active transportation for transportation rather than recreation, I still like that the recreation function is enhanced in these urban streets and corridors… In this case, a running track that you’d normally have to visit a sports centre for…
A little further along, signs showing this is part of the EuroVelo 6 route that stretches all the way from the French Atlantic coast to the Black Sea in Romania, all 4,700km of it… There’s an idea for a future trip, but how much of it is as safe and comfortable as this?
Back at the fortress… None of my photos have included anyone in hi-viz or wearing a helmet… A good sign that people feel pretty safe and comfortable riding a bike here…
And now inside the walls of Tvrđa with an interesting centre running drainage setup…
No cycling infrastructure within the walls… But not too many cars either…
Back outside the walls, and back riding along the river as the sun is going down on this short visit…
A few more things worth mentioning… On the way to the bus station early the next morning… Here’s a shot of the bike shop (I don’t know why the sign is upside down or half upside down) that we rented bikes from… And my first balance bike… They rent out their used bikes; I can’t remember the cost, but it was pretty reasonable, and this bike was way more comfortable than that thing from Paris… There’s a bike path alongside, albeit there was a bunch of construction behind me taking this shot that was an effort to navigate through…
Also… These dynamic signs were very cool, changing from crosswalk to tram ahead sign, and much more likely to grab driver attention than a static sign. These signs, plus the Dutch Let Op signs, would be great additions to our streets in Canada…
What else from Osijek? A random interesting fact is that they have very good pedestrian compliance with crosswalk signals, even late at night, with no traffic, people would obey the “don’t walk” signal… Out in some rural areas, we did see some new bike paths getting built, speculating that EU investment since Croatia joined in 2013 was perhaps contributing to a surge in such construction. In Osijek itself, it seems like there was a movement many years ago to build out the bike network, but maybe there’s been less work in recent years, at least from what I could see in the short time I was there… Interestingly, I later saw the Croatian National Cycling Conference was taking place in the city the same day that we arrived, with representation from the Dutch Cycling Embassy… So maybe some new things are in the works… Hopefully the sign below is not an indicator of future intent…
It definitely seems like things are being planned though. A little bit of research shows that in July 2023, the first-ever Croatian National Cycling Strategy was adopted and comes with a total investment of €166.7 million from 2023 to 2027. It envisions the increase in the use of bicycles for daily commuting and travel, and an improvement in the safety of cyclists in traffic.
From Osijek, it was a 4-hour bus ride with flixbus for the next leg of the trip in Budapest… €22 per person if you were wondering…