BETA
This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here

More From Forbes

Edit Story

Work Starts In Netherlands On 1,000-Meter Bat-Friendly Bicycling Bridge

Following
This article is more than 4 years old.

Ground has been broken on the construction of what will become Europe’s longest bicycling bridge. The €6 million Blauwe Loper, or “Blue Carpet,” will connect the Dutch town of Winschoten with the Blauwestad reclaimed recreational area.

Originally designed to extend for 800 meters, the bridge—in reality, four bridges, spanning a lake, canal, motorway and nature reserve—is now likely to reach a further 200 metres, says the municipality.

Built from wood and designed to stand for 80 years or more, the bridge will be fitted with solar cells powering LED lighting. It is hoped bats will use the lighting to cross from their habitat in a park to their foraging place on the Oldambtmeer lake. Local paper Dagblad van het Noorden said the bridge will also be painted in a “bat-friendly colour”: green.

Made from wood sourced from Gabon in Central Africa the bridge won’t rot, project leader Reinder Lanting told the newspaper: “The wood is not pressed together but has a sort of venting system.”

The first phase for the Blue Carpet is scheduled for completion by December 2020.

Europe’s longest bicycle bridge is currently the 756-meter bridge across Sölvesborg Bay in southern Sweden. The world’s longest bicycle bridge is the 7.6-kilometer-long Xiamen Bicycle Skyway in China.

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedInCheck out my website