The Cycle Serpent The story behind the City of Copenhagen’s bicycle bridge, the Cycle Serpent, is the story of an overpass that benefits the city space and road users.
By Anna Garrett, City of Copenhagen
No more carrying your bicycle Many Copenhageners have tried it. You cycle towards the shopping centre Fisketorvet and want to take a short cut over the bridge Bryggebroen to Islands Brygge to, for example, take a swim in the harbour. Suddenly the cycle lane comes to an end and you have to lug your bike down a load of steps, and cyclists and pedestrians have to share the limited space on the steps that lead from the main entrance of Fisketorvet down to the swimming area of the harbour at Kalvebod Brygge. It is five and a half metres down to the harbour, and until June 2014 walking up and down those steps carrying a bicycle was part of the daily hubbub for 11-12,000 Copenhageners. Copenhagen Municipality then did something about this, and the solution has become something of an attraction. Next to the steps is now a 235 metre long bicycle bridge. It has been given the appropriate name The Cycle Serpent, as it weaves its way around the glass-fronted buildings on the harbour front level with the first floor. The bridge is exclusively for bicycles, and pedestrians no longer need to fight for space with the cyclists on Havneholmen. The Cycle Serpent’s surface is orange to the delight of onlookers and cyclists. It is an artificial surface dusted with quartz sand dyed orange, which gives traction so cyclists won’t slide, and which gives the Serpent a special characteristic. It is four metres wide, which makes it possible to cycle side-by-side and still have room for those overtaking – even on the bends.
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The Cycle Serpent is wide enough so that overtaking is possible even if someone is cycling next to their child. Photo by Ursula Bach.
Architects with ambitions The Cycle Serpent was drawn up by Dissing+Weitling Architects, who also designed Bryggebroen. The connection wasn’t originally thought of as a bridge, just more or less a ramp for bicycles. But Dissing+Weitling surprised with their ambitious bridge design, and in 2013 they won Copenhagen Municipality’s Push-Up prize for their initiative in designing a solution that exceeded all expectations. The bridge cost 38 million Danish kroner, 6 million of which came in funding from the state. After the design phase, which began in 2010, construction started at the end of 2012. At that time, the bridge was expected to be finished in the second half of 2013, but the project was delayed primarily because the steel for sections of the bridge and the ramp came by freighter all the way from Shanghai. The Cycle Serpent could finally be opened officially on June 28th 2014, where Mayor of the city’s Techical
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and Environmental Administration, Morten Kabell, took followers on a cycle safari, and there was salsa dancing, crossfit and a treasure hunt at Fisketorvet where there is now a whole new city space now the bicycle traffic uses The Cycle Serpent. The world’s best cycling city has no missing links The establishment of The Cycle Serpent is one part of Copenhagen Municipality’s goal to become the world’s best city for cycling. Copenhagen’s network of cycle lanes must be connected so that the bicycle becomes an even easier and faster choice for the people of Copenha-
gen to get around the city. Missing links in the network should be removed by, for example, establishing new bicycle lanes, bridges, tunnels and throughways to make road junctions safer. The municipality estimates that the time saved by cyclists due to The Cycle Serpent amounts to more than 5 million Danish kroner. On top of that, after The Cycle Serpent opened, the number of cycle journerys across the harbour on Bryggebroen rose by approx. 30 %. That means that The Cycle Serpent will have paid for itself in 8 years, based on timesaving alone.
Photo by Ursula Bach
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蛇行自行車橋 哥本哈根城市的自行車橋背後，它是關於一座蛇行自行車橋的使用及有利於城市空間及道路 使用者的故事
蛇行自行車橋有足夠的寬度，如果你跟你的小孩，雙人一起騎自行車，也能有足夠的空間可以超車。圖片: 厄休拉·巴赫。
安娜·加勒特，哥本哈根市
不用再攜帶你的自行車 許多哥本哈根的居民已經嘗試 過，當你騎著自行車向Fisketorvet 購物中心的方向前進，可以經由 捷徑Bryggebroen橋到對面的Islands 橋，例如，可以在這裡的港口游 泳。此時突然自行車道，到了盡 頭，你需要停下自行車並牽著一起 走，自行車騎士和行人必順共享從 Fisketorvet正門至Kalvebod橋的海港 游泳區的有限空間。它到港口有五 公尺半的距離，一直到2014年6月 止，經過該區域的自行車騎士，都 必須下車將自行車抬上階梯，這對 約一萬一千至一萬兩千的哥本哈根 居民來說，己是日常生活中的一部 份 。 哥本哈根政府因此做一些有關於 這方面的惜施，而該解決方案也成
讓所有人超出預期的設計和解決方
根市希望可成為世界上最佳的自行
為某種吸引力。然而接下來的步驟
案，哥本哈根政府對他們的橋樑
車城市。哥本哈根自行車道的道路
就是現在235公尺的自行車橋，而
設計感到非常驚訝和雄心勃勃，他
必須相互連接，使騎自行車變為人
它被取名為蛇行自行車橋，因為它
們因此贏得了哥本哈根市政府的標
們在城市活動中，成為最簡單及快
是以環繞著海港一樓前的水平玻璃
價。這座蛇行自行車橋一共花了
速的選擇，而那些有缺失的車道必
牆之建築方式構造。這座橋主要是
38,000,000元丹麥克郎，而其中有
須移除，例如:藉由建立新的自行車
給Havneholmen上的自行車騎士使
6,000,000丹麥克郎是由國家撥款。
道、橋樑、遂道和十字路口使道路
用，而行人們也不需要再互相爭取 道路的空間。
更佳安全。 設計階段開始於2010年，並在 2012年年末開始施工。在這期間，
由於蛇型自行車橋的建立，市政
原本大橋預計在2013下半年完成，
府評估能替騎自行車者所省下的時
自行車橋的表面是明亮並且是漂亮
但是橋的中鋼部份和坡道因從上海
間成本超過5,000,000克朗。更重要
橙色。它是人造橋，在表面上鋪上
出發的貨輪延遲，因此此項目也同
的是，在蛇型自行車橋啟用後，經
橙色的石英砂，這使自行車騎士不
時被延遲了。
由Bryggebrone跨港大橋進行自行車
由自行車騎士的視線來看，蛇行
會輕易滑倒，也是這座蛇行自行車
旅程的人數，大約上升了30%。這
橋的特質。它擁有四公尺的寬度，
蛇行自行車橋終於在2014年6月28
也意味著，在節省時間方面，蛇型
除了可以並排的騎自行車外，也可
日正式開幕，由全市技術和環境管
自行車橋可在八年後回收成本
以讓自行車騎士在彎曲處超越其他
理者 莫滕.卡貝爾市長，帶領並追
自行車時有了更大的空間。
隨著一群自行車，並在Fisketorvet有
圖片 由厄休拉·巴赫
薩爾薩舞，運動操及尋寶，那裡已
建築師與野心 蛇行自行車橋是由建築公司 Dissing+Weitling設計的，他們
經是一個全新的城市空間，現在蛇 行自行車橋成為了自行車騎士的主 要交通線道。
也是設計Bryggebroen的建築公 司。它最初的設計理念不是一 座橋樑，而只是坡道式的自行車 道。Dissing+Weitling在2013設計了
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世界上最好的自行車城 市有沒有缺失環節 蛇行自行車橋的建立，是哥本哈
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