The Italian city of Milan has recently confirmed an ambitious new cycling network that will link 80% of the city to bike paths.
The £200 million (R4.18 billion) ‘Cambio’ Biciplan project was designed in consultation with the Dutch spatial economic research firm Decisio and is part of the city’s goal to secure a 20% modal shift to cycling.
The new cycle network will link 750 kilometres of bike lanes across 24 different lines in the city. This will include 16 radial, four circulars and four long-distance greenways.
Some existing routes will be added to the network, while others will be newly constructed.
Once completed, it will place 86 percent of Milan's population and 80 percent of services, including hospitals, schools and businesses, within one kilometre of a bike route.
The network is set to be completed in 2035, by which time the city hopes that 20 percent of all local transport will be undertaken by bike.
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The initiative forms part of the city's larger goal to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, in line with the goals set out in the Paris Agreement.
Bloomberg reported in January that “the region surrounding Milan has some of Europe’s worst pollution, created by a combination of dense population, large-scale industrial activity and widespread car dependency.
The emissions created become especially harmful in winter when temperature inversions commonly trap pollutants in the lower atmosphere, leaving a toxic blanket of smog cloaking the city.”
According to Milan’s own research, 50% of the city’s PM10 and nitrous oxide pollution comes from transportation emissions, meaning that Milan’s pollution problem is substantially a car and truck problem.
The ‘PM’ in PM10 stands for Particulate Matter, this describes inhalable particles, with diameters that are generally 10 micrometres and smaller.
This isn’t Milan’s first rodeo when it comes to its battle with vehicle emissions and its poor air quality.
The city implemented a congestion charge within the city centre in 2008 and banned diesel vehicles from most of the city since 2014. Emergency short-term driving bans were enforced in 2020 during periods of especially acute pollution.