New bike lanes are starting to be installed in Riga; bicycle enthusiasts are worried about the slow pace of building bicycle paths / Article

In Riga, the municipality is going to install bike lanes on three routes by the end of May. In Ågenskaln and Ķīpsala, in the Ballast Dam section from Krišjāņa Valdemāra Street to Daugavgrīvas Street, it is planned to establish a connection between Vanši Bridge and Uzvaras Park, where there has been a break until now.

Bicycle lanes are also being built in Mežciema along Gaiļezera Street in both directions, where, similar to Balsta Dam, the permitted driving speed is going to be reduced to 30 kilometers per hour.

On the other hand, in Čiekurkalnä and Mežaparka, bicycle lanes will be installed on Viskaļu and Ezermalas streets, so that residents will be able to move safely and conveniently between the two neighborhoods – stated the Department of Space and Mobility.

“Such temporary inconveniences will, of course, occur during the implementation process, but afterwards the conditions will be similar to what they are now, only safer.

The parking lots on the sides of the streets, both in Gaiļezera Street and Ballast Dam, will remain, except for one route in Ezermalas Street – some parking spaces there could disappear.

Taking into account that street reconstruction solutions are a long-term process that we cannot realize the project and build in one or two years, these are simple solutions in which we divide the roadway between cyclists and motorists and also introduce legal lane widths for motorists. Those streets where we do this, we do not reduce the number of lanes, but make them narrower,” said Oto Ozols, deputy head of the Bicycle Infrastructure Department.

In the coming weeks, the bicycle infrastructure network in Riga will increase by eight kilometers, exceeding 130 kilometers in total. However, residents have to wait from five to ten years for a full-fledged network – noted Ozols, while admitting that the work on bicycle lane connections in Riga is endless.

True, city activist and leader of the association “Drošas ielas” Māris Jonovs is not satisfied with the pace of the capital, believing that the Bicycle Infrastructure Department has no political support.

“These three routes that are being talked about are actually last year’s works, in which a much larger volume of neighborhoods was planned.

Vecmīlgravis, Jugla, Čiekurkalns unfortunately remain without much-needed and long-awaited bicycle infrastructure. Something is not going forward or at times we are still going backwards.

Pedestrians, seniors, and residents of Riga with dogs and children by hand will crowd the sidewalks this summer as well, and bicycles and electric bicycles will be driving between them. We make maybe even good projects, [bet] those projects are put in the chest again and again because of the lack of courage to move forward. Residents want it, politicians are hesitant… I certainly wouldn’t want to say that it is developing very slowly. I would even like to underline that [galvaspilsēta] is developing. City builders and urban planners get the necessary experience.”

Juris Zvirbulis, a traffic expert and the president of the Latvian Automobile Society, believes that pedestrians and cyclists are a priority in the city, at the same time stating that the municipality should create a convenient bypass network for motorists.

“[Veloinfrastruktūru] building in stages, in stages, it will be possible to create such a network in Riga, where children can move to and from school calmly and safely, and create cycling traditions. Of course, adults will be able to use a very healthy and ecological way,” said Zvirbulis

Within two years, the Riga City Council is going to build bicycle lanes in the direction of Ķekava, Ulbrok and Piņkai with the help of the European Union.