Utrecht

On Monday, August 5th, the class visited what some call the nicest overall city in the Netherlands: Utrecht. The picture show above is facing west from the Centraal train station and city hall, showing the Utrecht skate park. Underground bicycle parking is located below the steps on the left side of the photo. Utrecht has two of the largest underground bicycle parking facilites in the world, with the largest having a capacity of approximatley 12,500 bikes. Our tour guide took us on a walking tour of Utrect and explained the ins and outs of public transportation in the city of Utrecht. One interesting feature discussed during the tour was the large bicycle and pedestrian path that crosses the large arterial road behind Utrecht Centraal. This path was made possible through funding by the Rabobank, which is located on the West side of the path. The path also has rectangular cut-outs with metal grates that would potentially allow for future construction of ramps for easy access from the bridge to the bus platform. This was not incorporated into the initial design because the city wanted all passengers to enter through the station and potentially spend money at the shops and resteraunts. Another interesting point of the tour was the discussion about having "icons" in your city. The bubble roof pictured below covers the main square outside the train station, it provides cover as well as an easy meeting point. Another icon of Utrect is the "IK" sign on the roof of one of the high rise buildings in Utrect. It was placed there as a temporary art peice and kept due to p[opular demand.