Around the globe, cities are entering a new golden age of bicycle infrastructure, building protected bike lanes, bike hotels, and even “cycle superhighways.” The city of Xiamen in southeast China has another impressive addition to the list: the world’s longest aerial cycle way. The 16-foot-wide bike and pedestrian path, which just began a month-long trial run, rises more than 16 feet above the street at its highest point and extends along a 7.6-km (about 4.7-mile) route linking six public transport hubs.
A large section of the elevated path runs directly beneath an elevated street reserved for the city’s rapid transit busses, which provides shelter from the rain. The cycle way is also outfitted with 30,000 lights so it can be safely navigated at night. When fully completed, the cycle way will have high-tech gates at its on-ramps which will automatically close if the path becomes too crowded with bikers or pedestrians. It’s able to accommodate more than 2,000 bikes an hour.
"I'm a little bit afraid of the height, so I thought I would dare not ride on it. But today I found the guardrail made me feel safe," said local biker Wu Xueying in Xinhua news.
Another resident, Chen Yimin, tells Xinhua, "I tried today, and it took 10 minutes from my home to my workplace, which is the same as when I was driving,"
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