We've had them in New Zealand for at least three decades but now that there's been a lot of talk about them, they're screwing them up. Bloody bureaucracy.
All these bridges have railings that are lower than the seat of a bicycle too.. It's very much just an accident waiting to happen, and it could easily result in death as you probably will be flying off the bridge with your head first towards the ground. I hate these bridges.
He is a jew not a Dane.. and some Italian bridges are still taking traffic after 2000 years,.. I dont think any other country can make the same statement.
Oh boy we have plenty of experience with Italian products. I mean the State railways ordered a 100 strong fleet of intercity trains from Italy... they were faulty and one of those 100 trains somehow made its way into the hands of Gadaffi in Libya without us knowing and still having paid for it.
@@cirkuspolle I'm Welsh. Dutch will be my third language. I'm learning Dutch because I love Amsterdam, but I was reminded of how nice both Amsterdam and Copenhagen are by this lovely video. Have a nice day :)
Oh, get real. Our roads are oriented towards vehicle traffic and your bicycles just don't fit in. You were once limited to just sidewalks, but you kept running into pedestrians. We now let you onto the streets where others, protected by metal vehicles, have a reasonable chance of avoiding injury by you. Lol.
@@dwightstewart7181 jesus if your attitude is typical of a New Yorker it sounds shit. Aren't your footpaths already some of the most crowded? Who would think it would be a good idea to mix cyclists with a crowded pedestrian street. What you do, and I know it's a fucking really crazy idea I don't even know if anyone has thought of this before but, you give them their own lane, separate the different major traffic types, foot traffic, cyclists, and road traffic. I don't know how people haven't figured out that more bikes means less car traffic to contend with which means easier drives for you in your metal cage. Why do you think of bikes as your enemy when they actually help you get where you're going faster by not taking up another car length on the road. Promote cycling and your drive to work will be better.
@@GloveSlapnz It's because the rules of coexistence are not fair. . The cars are required to see where they can't and to yield to people coming from blind spots, or from multiple direction, and be ready to brake and disrupt even a slow pace to take into account bycicles, who can, by contrast, ride faster than their brakes say it's safe and basically ignore traffic rules. . The reason is simple: cities aren't build for bycicles (zoning, mostly), and bycicles are terrible long-distance vehicles, all in all (hot or cold weather, dirt and mud, rain, little space for objects, sweat...). No wonder that in ALL countries, at some point, people have abandoned it as soon as they could to buy a car. . But, not everyone can have a car, or things won't work, so bycicles have been brought back. And to make them more appealing than they were if they were treated equally, they have been given countless advantages, some of which are even contrary to safety. Or environmental protection (most of the strategies used to discourage cars are punishing for cars and for the environment, and don't take into account the idea of making the bike a better vehicle rather than bashing the car). . Plus, the people who cycle around can be as a**holes as the ones driving cars (and the countless youtube dashcam videos from around the world show it perfectly), particularly in NYC, so what is achieved today is to divide people and make them angry toward each other, by saying to them that "rights over safety" and "guilt until proof" are good things. . BTW Copenhagen is not an exception: I've driven and walked there. When I was driving, cyclist came out from every corner and I had to yield to people coming from my blind spot (which is idiotic), to the point where I had several of them passing right behind me as I was reversing with blinkers on to turn around and get out of a dead end in a small street (I hated each one of those uncaring bas**rds popping in the limited view of my back window), and as a pedestrian I got several of them zooming by at high speed in pedestrian areas, just inches from my face. Way to be safe... All that was unfair, and quite a lot. The answer is to build cities that do not need cars, cities where bycicles are a good way of transportation, and make things fair (and more separated bike paths).
Thibaut Crépelle uh... you strike as a person how doesn’t need to encounter bridges in your daily life, trust me bridges matter. I live on a key that needs to connect to the mainland via a bridge and every time the local government decides to add or change a bridge the community gets super heated. Bridges significantly decide how your life is lived when surrounded by water.
London's infamous "Garden Bridge". £45,000,000.00 of public money wasted. But that's Boris. Spent hugely on massive Covid treatment sheds that got no patients because there were never any doctors to staff them. Wasted millions on 'bendy buses' in London that had to be removed when they caught fire. Gave sweetheart deal to a bank to supply bikes without fair competitive tender. Allowed a contract for a ferry company that had no boats! You've got the Donald, we've got the Johnson and he's a big one at that.
@@lawrencesimmons5093 Another bridge is required in London - and it was cancelled by Labour partly because it was considered it might be a monument to Boris. Bendy busses are a Labour innovation, they were called 'monstrous' by BoJo due to the increased instances of cyclist deaths and were replaced by the new routemasters (which are expensive but are still the most popular busses in London which you can see time and time again in surveys) Regarding the covid 'sheds' additonal capacity wasn't required, there were a few trial patients who were there to make sure that the systems could work if they needed them, fortunately the NHS didn't get overwhelmed (as initially predicted). Doctor friends of mine who volunteered on the covid wards and due to work there were stepped down as they weren't required. The bikes were sponsored by and paid for by barclays, incidentally they were furious because they were called boris bikes, not barclays bikes by the public. They declined to renew the contract and they were replaced by HSBC who are paying less. The ferry one is retarded but the contract was awarded by Chris Grayling not Boris.
I crashed so hard into the glass On my longjohn first time i crossed lillelangebro. There were no lights, no signs, and no color on the glass. Behind every sign there’s a story
RU-vid be like : "Do you know Copenhagen ? -not really... -But do you use bicycles ? -Not at all. -You know what a bridge is ? -hum.. yes... YOU'LL LOVE THAT VIDEO ! " And I loved it.
@@mortenfrosthansen84 Eh, it's quite forgiving due to how cheap tunnels are the penalty from building elevated roads is also very small. It won't look good, but it's relatively easy to fix traffic by building something that would be too expensive in reality. In my first game I've build tunnels under entire downtown area's just to get a few trucks out of them.
@@TheEtueify I agree. It'z crazy that all these years after SimCity4 is still arguably the best city planning and administration game. C:S is for sure a better city building game, but it's way too easy in those other respects
@@tomasmesen True, Though at the same time, Simcity never had properly expensive tunnels either. It's the among others the flat max tax and such in Cities Skylines that makes it that fiddling with stuff is generally making the game easier rather than needed. You can spend the entire game outside of the managing part if you want to and only lose a little income. At the same time Sim Cities industrial traffic is much more forgiving than cities:skylines bizarre amounts of industrial traffic but when you get offices later game you're suddenly avoiding making as much industrial so the game get's easier for a while...
@@TheEtueify good tips.. I did experience, when having pockets of industry, where ground was useful, the jams startet appearing. I mainly widen roads, or build a vast metro system. So people don't use cars, but takes like 40 windmills. Didn't think of tunnels for the road. What I learned, is to start with big road grids, and actually keep it square and boring..
I think City Skylines with the traffic manager mod should be mandatory for politicians here. Many Danish cities are actually worse than City Skylines cities.
I looked at Copenhagen on Google maps, and instantly thought that I want to build that in Cities Skylines. With all the canals and bridges and stuff that should be a pretty interesting map.
I have no idea why I just spent 17 minutes watching a guy I don't follow talk about a subject I never knew I cared about in a city I've never been in, but there, I did it.
Lille Langebro isn't just a grand vanity project. Having biked over the big bridge for several years, being able to take instead the calm and nice smaller one, without cars right next to you has improved my every day life substantially since it was opened.
You can get a boost over that bridge by going over another bridge that starts from an elevated point. It's a little bit risky as you have to be careful of crossing and/or unobservant (tourist) pedestrians.
As others have said, that's not too uncommon of a speed. And it indirectly shows the one major idiotic feature of that bridge, which Mikael is missing here... 99% of pedestrians *have to* cross the bicycle lane before crossing the bridge, with a fair amount of risk of being run down by someone like that guy. Because someone brilliantly decided to have the pedestrian walk on the left side of the bridge (seen from the Copenhagen side), and the bicycle lane on the right - while the pedestrians will all approach the bridge from the *right* , and the bicycles will approach from the *left* - from the "bicycle snake". Copenhagen pedestrians are used to insane bicyclists and most will be able to muster up the courage to cross. ;-) But, to use the complaint from earlier in the video - they shouldn't have to...
Everyone should find this interesting. It's important because 1) our taxpayer money should be spent wisely 2) even if you are not a cyclist, everyone benefits from good cycling paths, cyclists, motorists and pedestrians 3) good cycling infrastructure is so rare, but I don't think it's all that hard to design and make. Let's learn from the mistakes of others.
IndependentThought ...and even though they are a small group of people, even in Copenhagen, cyclists get catered to by city councils.....so yes, indeed watch how your tax-money is spent.
Your story about supply issues reminds me of a crushing mill complex I worked on in the early 1980's. The structure was designed and built in the United States, with the Imperial measurements. The moving parts, motors, gears, etc were built in Canada with the metric system. And nobody checked out to make sure everything was compatible. As part of the construction crew, I have to thank the engineers for the mistake. My bank account was much healthier for all the overtime I worked trying to adjust and install the mismatched pieces.
Additional failures relating to "the kissing bridge": Initially Copenhagen decided to station four guards on the bridge because they were afraid that people wouldn't understand how to safely enter and leave the bridge. I remember that the traffic on the bridge from day one was massive so this might be seen as due diligence instead of a failure. Soon after it was discovered that the road paving on the bridge was too slippery when wet so they had to quickly fix the paving. Also, at the time when the engineering company was in the process of bankruptcy, a steel delivery of more than 400 tons of steel from Spain was rejected because of quality problems. These days I cross Lille Langebro every day and if this new bridge didn't exist I might have selected a completely different route to avoid Langebro altogether so obviously I'm very happy about Lille Langebro. 🙂
Yea I think some of the critics neglect how annoying it can be to deal with Langebro depending on which direction you approach. The new Lille Langebro makes the general flow for bicycles much easier with less potential interruptions. I like it.
Yeah, Lille Langebro, is the most succesful of the three harbor bridges, even they are all to narrow, hope they will learn when the fourth between Tejholmen and Islands Brygge gets realized. (The Cycle-Mayor)
Winnipeg Manitoba is full of incompetent and corrupt and useless building inspectors. Google WINNIPEG BUILDING INSPECTORS FIRED. The Mafia is nothing compared to the Mayor and City Council. Enter Winnipeg AT YOUR OWN RISK!
As a Danish guy who studies in Italy, I can agree wholeheartedly.. Complaining a bit about a couple of bridges really isn't anything noteworthy in comparison haha
Hahaha I love this because it shows you how sorted life is in Copenhagen that they complain about such trivial stuff. Coming from India, if I had this infrastructure, I'd be elated. But loved the way he strung this together, thoroughly entertaining for me.
To be calatravish they should have made less friendly, like taking the protective glass off, then the city putting that and then going to court about how that modification was against the ideas of the "artist" 😂
@@EduardoEscarez Also, the budget should have been at least 10x what this bridge cost before it was discovered it would cost at least 20x to complete it
This is hilarious, a couple of years back I went with my school on a guided tour of copenhagen and this first bridge was almost the centerpiece. They described it as innovative and super environmentaly friendly and a crucial part of copenhagen architechture, not even close to what is described in this video.
Typical propaganda, man. That's how politics works. Who cares if it's not practically or actually dangerous, it's much better because of X/Y/Z. And maybe if you disagree you're just evil.
The stupid right turn at the end of the Dybbelsbro bridge (didn't talk about it but was in your graphic) has confused me ever since they opened. Every time I turn right there I feel like I'm doing something illegal because there is barely any space.
The intersection at the beginning of Dybbølsbro in the morning between 07.30-08.30 is just mad chaos - the video does not even do it justice. The whole intersection can be full of bikes and heavy trucks are going through to deliver or pick up at kødbyen - accident waitinh to happen.
Lool, I was just telling my boyfriend about this video and said "hey, remember that stupid right turn when we were going to the shopping mall the other day, and how we got in the car lane instead of on the bike lane, this is also a very stupid decision", and that guy started talking about it :D
Mikael’s parents emigrated from Denmark to Canada in 1953, where he was born. He left Canada at a young age and lived in cities around the world including Los Angeles, Suva, Melbourne, Hong Kong, Moscow, Paris and London. He settled in Copenhagen in the mid 1990s.
As a binman (skraldemand) driving the skraldebil (wastetruck) near specially Dybbølsbro is insane. The bikelanes there are so weirdly angled that a lot is in blindspots. I would love the roundabout solution right there! Thanks for a very good video!
Yeah. Luckily the proposal for a new intercity bus station by Dybbølsbro has been approved. Is it ideal? I wouldn't say so but it's better than Ingerslevgade.
omg yes. there is like a million buses and only like 5 benches and you have to walk over the bike lane to get one the bus and their is so little shelter in case of rain.. it is truly ridicoules.
I can forgive that because it is an improvised solution and not something that was years in the making and cost millions of kroner. Apparently the city is working on an actual hub for long distance busses, so we'll see I guess.
Very interesting video. The last bridge bothers me especially, since it creates very dangerous scenarios around the intersection. I study social Geography and Spatial Planning at Utrecht University, and I can tell you that a design like that should never be accepted. I don't think a roundabout would be a favorable solution though, since it appears to be a busy intersection, and the sole reason why they replaced the old roundabout is likely because roundabouts are usually a congestion nightmare. I'd say the most logical solution would be to make a 2 way bicycle lane along the road leading straight onto the bridge.
i know I'm a bit late on this comment, but as a Dane i have to agree with you, the amount of cars and bicycle traffic would have me a bit worried. The cars constantly have to check for bicycles whilst trying to make a turn would be lets say "problematic" and would probably cause accidents, If this was a majority car access roundabout road I'd go with that solution without any trouble, but the soft pedestrians, bicycles and cars is a iffy situation!
fun fact: My dad is 83 years old and worked at Lego when they still made wood toys. He lived in Randbøldal and grew up during WW2. After the war the government wanted him to join the reserves because he was a boy scout leader. They even mailed him train tickets for his journey to prison when he refused. So he went to Sweden for a few years and worked and saved up some money and boarded a cargo ship to Canada. Well anyways Great Videos !!!!!!!!!!!
- RU-vid: Hey wanna know what's wrong with this bridge in Copenhagen? - I....I guess so. Also....This is the most first-world problem video I have ever seen.
First time I watch a video fro you and are only 3 minutes in and I already know this is gonna be my favorite architectural review channel! Love the style, looking forward and subbed.
As a swede i'm very tempted to write a "danes are always drunk and that explains all this" joke but i'm going to be the bigger man and not do that. But wow. This is hilarious.
This is magical. I dont ride a bike, I dont live in Denmark, I do not have any real interest in bridge design. Yet, I watched this thing from start to finish. GG on making it sound interesting.
Okay youtube, I've watched this video on bridges now. On a different note, this video was very well produced and it's host was VERY knowledgeable and surprisingly entertaining. Great video!
Damn never knew Denmark looks so similair to the Netherlands. Good thing to know! If the Netherlands ever floods we have a back up....we just have to fix a few bridges and voila home sweet home.
As a Dane who's actually crossed that bridge on my bike, I would consider it more frustrating than fun, unless of course you have a fetish for riding around on stupidstupid infrastructure designed by someone who hasn't even got a faint idea of how something like this should be designed. But, to each their own, I guess, feel free to drop by any day and ride around on it all you like.:-)
@@mace8873 As a matter of fact, I do! Only had a few days in Copenhagen a year or two ago, loved the city so much. I wished I'd had the chance to ride there, because it would be nice to ride in a place where people aren't actively trying to kill you from once (Arizona, USA). Denmark truly is one of the loveliest places on earth. Thank you and your fellow Danes for Carlsberg, Tuborg and Northern Europe's superior brands of salted licorice!
Denmark: This bridge isn't following the bike guidelines to the letter Sweden: This bike path is close enough to following the guidelines UK: You guys get guidelines?
I'm actually surprised at the amount of international exposure on this video. I was expecting 90% of the comments to be from Danish people being proud of themselves haha. Pretty glad to see so many international viewers this time
09:20 I live close to Amager strand, and I depend on that bridge daily. Apart from the extreme cobblestone (which is significantly reduced if you go via Prinsessegade -> Sofiegade -> Dronningegade), this bridge is the reason I make it to work without sweat or stress. Judging from the amount of people using it (especially from that direction), the bridge certainly has paid off. My two cents would be to fix the cobblestone
Yep, that bridge has definitely been a great ease-of-life change for many cyclists in the areas nearby, makes it so much better not having to seek out a centralized main bridge with traffic and outside factors that can impede your riding flow.
Inderhavnsbroen has the three major markers of a major Danish public project. (1) Finished years behind schedule (2) Gone significantly over budget (3) Poorly functioning (if at all) on opening It's a time-honored tradition at this point.
Yea it's very strange, and thats how it works in every other intersection anyways - this new design is just odd. I don't think the roundabout would work these days because bicycle traffic is too heavy and it would clog the regular road traffic for cars and busses if there is a constant stream of bicycles. I think the issue is that they tried to fit a new design on the bridge into an existing intersection, without redesigning the intersection itself to match the bridge. A complete rework of the intersection could probably solve it quite easily, but that costs more money and will probably have to wait a few years before it would get a green light.
Idk, as a Dane I think it would cause some confusion initially and that's an incredibly dangerous thing to happen in Copenhagen due to the speed of the cyclists (first rule of Copenhagen is to constantly watch where you're going, cause if you don't, you'll get mowed down by a cyclist). A roundabout on the other hand, is so normal in Denmark, that both cyclists and drivers don't think about how to engage, but just engages without any difficulty. In some places of the country, we even have roundabouts inside roundabouts.
@Jeffrey van Gurp " Dutch "all bikes get green at the same time" solution " - ...Followed, no doubt, by the friendly message: "The City Council wishes the best of luck to everyone!..." (Pardon me, is this a "Traffic Management" or "Population Control" project?!... ;-)
4:00 I went to Copenhagen last year and I can confirm that the sharp turn took me by surprise 😅 Also, the cobblestones at 8:51 were a real torture btw, they went on for sooooo long and you're just constantly shaken up and down on your seat..."recreational" my foot ! 😂 14:35 Last but not least, I just realised I "hacked the system" too back then without realising it 😅
Hi - love the video. I do think you raise a lot of great critique points, but I don't share your general "bitterness" about the bridges in Copenhagen. I think it's an absolute pleasure to cycle around the city and I am impressed with how many innovative solutions that are being tried and tested. I truly enjoyed watching your video so I cant wait to watch your next one :)
Meh. All this douchebag does it bitch and moan. He seems like the type who gets invited to a party and proceeds to complain the whole time about how his party would've been so much better. This is the first and last video of his that I watch.
Three bridges, three times 'we are up with them and even better" - Century-old company: we may be old but can build modern unproven bridge designs better than anyone - Koolhaas: my bureau may be known for fancy forms, but look what we did to the place where once was a bridge: modernity and history in one - Immensely wide bicycle bridge: our bridge is wider than yours; did they go for a really cheap design, forgetting details? What bothers most, is not that those designs were badly detailed or even reckless, but that decisionmakers went along with them. Designers let their fantasy flow, engineers say 'çan do', politicians judge according to expected cost and benefit. That's my simplistic model. Apart from the third case, decisionmakers failed their duty. If you are inclined to use classical terms, you may say 'hubris' lead to feelings of superiority. If not, imagine 'Tower of Babel'; that was 'hubris'.
Tbh as someone from the UK I wouldn't mind if the biggest problem with our new bridges was a sharp turn. We spend £40 million to company who's never made a bridge on the scale proposed, through a corrupt competition, just designed to enrich a rich toffs friends and after all that money we didn't even get a bridge.