Left (Top): A picture of the bicycle underpass by the Delft Train Station, looking south.

Left (Bottom): A picture of the bicycle underpass by the Delft Train Station, looking north. 

For the second facilities assignment, this blog will focus on the bicycle underpasses located next to the Delft Train Station and bus transit center. This is a highly familiar location to us as almost everyday we biked, we we either enter, exit, or both from this spot as it also serves as one of two access points to the bicycle parking facility. The cycle track going south leads towards TU Delft, while the track going north goes towards the historic city center and bridges across the canal. Only bus traffic is allowed on the overpass here, meaning that automobile and cycle traffic are completely grade separated. There is also a small pedestrian walking path located along the inner sides of the overpass. 

There are many bicycle underpasses located throughout the Netherlands, particularly when a bridge is needed for vehicular traffic to cross a canal or river (like the above bus road does in this example). This particular underpass highlights the following benefits of this design strategy:

• Grade separation of transport modes means both flows can move more much more freely and efficiently, since having an underpass for major cycle track routes means cyclists can proceed through without a need to slow down for an intersection. 

• Combining the entrance to the station bicycle parking zone with an underpass increases the convenience of the area and promotes the use of bicycles. 

That said, my team and I noted that this particular underpass has two possible issues. First, with the design of it passing under the canal bridges of the train station zone, cyclists who want to go to the historic city downtown must bike north for around two minutes before they can reach a cyclist accessible bridge to that area. Second, the pedestrian walking zone becomes extremely thin on both sides of the underpass. As shown in the pictures of me T-posing next to the walls below, the pedestrian sidewalk goes from about one wingspan (~1.75m) to about 2/3rds of my wingspan (~1m) for the uphill portion. This is fine for able-bodied pedestrians, but it immediately brought concerns for handicapped-inviduals to our minds. Though, since this path leads directly into the bicycle parking area, it is likely that wheelchair-bound people would not need to take this specific pedestrian path. 

Overall, this is a great example of a combined purpose bicycle underpass in the Netherlands.