The world's longest bicycle tunnel - or maybe the second longest anyway :)

[Neville Welsh]

Yesterday was the official opening day for "the world's longest bicycle tunnel" in my hometown Bergen (Norway). Today however, you could walk, run or use the bicycle going through the tunnel. It connects to the new bycycle lane going to the center of town and is just brilliant and very convenient. I won't use this tunnel on a daily basis as I live in another part of the city, but I had to try it out. I spotted another Superdelite there too

See inside the arty new bike tunnel that's the longest in Europe

Bergen's pedestrian and bike tunnel is now open to the public.

www.euronews.com

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Interesting ride. Will pedestrians be banned once the tunnel goes into regular service? Will they actually comply?

Here in coastal SoCal, runners go right down the middle of clearly marked bike-only lanes, and they refuse to move over when bikes approach. Even when they have pedestrian-only paths a few feet away.

Just one more example of the "nobody can tell me what to do" mindset taking over American behavior in public. Guessing compliance will be better in Bergen.

 

[Bubba zanetti]

This the kilometre long tunnel near me. It’s rough, wet and spooky. I’m going to cycle up there in a few weeks when the ice inside has melted.

 

[Tars Tarkas]

Interesting ride. Will pedestrians be banned once the tunnel goes into regular service? Will they actually comply?

Here in coastal SoCal, runners go right down the middle of clearly marked bike-only lanes, and they refuse to move over when bikes approach. Even when they have pedestrian-only paths a few feet away.

Just one more example of the "nobody can tell me what to do" mindset taking over American behavior in public. Guessing compliance will be better in Bergen.

It is meant for pedestrians as well, with dedicated lanes. One would hope it won't be difficult for people to stay in their lane.

It appears to be a beautiful, very worthy project that many other municipalities should consider.

TT

 

[Neville Welsh]

Interesting ride. Will pedestrians be banned once the tunnel goes into regular service? Will they actually comply?

Here in coastal SoCal, runners go right down the middle of clearly marked bike-only lanes, and they refuse to move over when bikes approach. Even when they have pedestrian-only paths a few feet away.

Just one more example of the "nobody can tell me what to do" mindset taking over American behavior in public. Guessing compliance will be better in Bergen.

It does happen here as well I'm afraid. The new combined foot paths and bike lanes much better though and are physically separeted as the foot path are raised a foot or so from the bike lane. It does seem to work much better than the old ones which has no separation.

 

[Jay Kay]

It does happen here as well I'm afraid. The new combined foot paths and bike lanes much better though and are physically separeted as the foot path are raised a foot or so from the bike lane. It does seem to work much better than the old ones which has no separation.

That is a great design solution.

To be fair, some cyclists can be just as bad - mainly the weight weenie acoustic bike riders without bells riding as if it was an olympic time trial!

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

It does happen here as well I'm afraid. The new combined foot paths and bike lanes much better though and are physically separeted as the foot path are raised a foot or so from the bike lane. It does seem to work much better than the old ones which has no separation.

Unfortunately, obvious physical separations do little to keep pedestrians out of the dedicated bike lanes here.

Agree with @Jay Kay that there's plenty of blame to go around in the never-ending cyclist/pedestrian/driver power struggle. But pedestrians are by far the biggest scofflaws where I live. And they force cyclists into dangerous traffic when they commandeer dedicated bike lanes along busy roads.

 

[Deacon Blues]

Unfortunately, obvious physical separations do little to keep pedestrians out of the dedicated bike lanes here.

Agree with @Jay Kay that there's plenty of blame to go around in the never-ending cyclist/pedestrian/driver power struggle. But pedestrians are by far the biggest scofflaws where I live. And they force cyclists into dangerous traffic when they commandeer dedicated bike lanes along busy roads.

That's why I bought a Alibaba cheap electric horn for my commuter bike. Nice and loud.

 

[sammcneill]

I saw a story from Canada this week where a kid was on a one way downhill MTB trail and his dad was right behind him.
The kid encountered two hikers in middle of trail (again, single direction downhill track) took evasive action and crashed badly.
His dad came around the corner to find his son crashed and semi-conscious.
The hikers called emergency services then left without waiting for them to arrive!

The kid had to go to hospital and off the bike indefinitely missing a national MTB event he was qualified for -

On more uplifting note - that tunnel is AMAZING!

Can’t imagine some thing like that ever built in New Zealand!

 

[6zfshdb]

The 2 km. Sideling Hill Tunnel is the longest I've ridden. I'm not aware of any that are longer in the eastern US. It was abandoned by the Pennsylvania Turnpike in 1968 and converted to a bike trail. Definitely a spooky place!

https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/pennsylvania/pike-2-bike-trail-pa/

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

The 2 km. Sideling Hill Tunnel is the longest I've ridden. I'm not aware of any that are longer in the eastern US. It was abandoned by the Pennsylvania Turnpike in 1968 and converted to a bike trail. Definitely a spooky place!

View attachment 151882 View attachment 151883 View attachment 151884 View attachment 151885
https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/pennsylvania/pike-2-bike-trail-pa/

Guessing pedestrian interlopers keep mostly to the ends.

 

[Mulezen]

The 2 km. Sideling Hill Tunnel is the longest I've ridden. I'm not aware of any that are longer in the eastern US. It was abandoned by the Pennsylvania Turnpike in 1968 and converted to a bike trail. Definitely a spooky place!

View attachment 151882 View attachment 151883 View attachment 151884 View attachment 151885
https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/pennsylvania/pike-2-bike-trail-pa/

Great slice of geology on view here

 

[m@Robertson]

Unfortunately, obvious physical separations do little to keep pedestrians out of the dedicated bike lanes here.

The fact they have to hop down and then back up would at least help... or maybe it would keep people clean off the pedestrian lane entirely.

We have exactly the same problem here on the scenic segments of the coastal trail. Loads of clueless tourists totally ignoring the pedestrian separation, and cyclists on non electric road bikes seeing how close they can come to the walking undead. So basically its a free-for-all. I was recently reminded about how bad it can get when the weather changed and all of a sudden we became a tourist destination again. I have been spoiled riding thru the winter.

 

[BlackHand]

Pretty cool. I've done the 3.6km Snoqualmie Tunnel here in WA a couple times. It's very disconcerting that it's so dark you lose a sense of perspective and can't tell if an oncoming light is 1 km away or just 50m away until the person actually comes into your headlight beam.

The fog is from the cool tunnel air hitting the warm outside air. It stays around 35F inside the tunnel.

 

[sammcneill]

since we are posting tunnel pics….

I bikepacked through a few north of Wellington, New Zealand - built in late 19th century and discontinued tram tunnels. Very dark, rough surfaces and hewn rock walls. Longest was only 221m however pretty much excavated by hand + dynamite.

There was a series of about five tunnels thaf
Opened up to this swing bridge that used to be a rail bridge as well across a very deep gully:

 

[6zfshdb]

Then there's the "haunted" Flinderation Tunnel on the West Bend Trail near Brandy Gap WV. At 1086', it's by no means the longest but definitely the spookiest since it passes directly under an old graveyard on the ridge above!

I rode the trail with my brother back in 2011. We saw no ghosts but we both got splitting headaches about halfway through. I suspect it was due to poor air quality rather than paranormal activity.

West Virginia Ghost Stories, Legends, and Haunts - Flinderation Tunnel/Brandy Gap Tunnel #2 west virginia

West Virginia ghost stories, legends, and haunts. Flinderation Tunnel/Brandy Gap Tunnel #2

westvirginiahauntsandlegends.com

 

[CyclingDan]

Europe is really pro-tunnel compared to the US, on the West Coast we prefer going overland. Maybe earthquakes have something to do with it. The one thing we see more of here than in Europe I think is the Rails2Trails. Here in California last year the Governer just signed off on the Great Redwood Trail, which will take over an abandoned train track and go from the SF Bay to Humbolt Bay as the longest such trail in the country. Some parts of it are already done.

That tunnel is beautiful, especially the rest spot in the middle, amazing making that investment. Would be fun to visit just for the privledge of getting to ride it.

 

[6zfshdb]

The 3118' Paw Paw tunnel on the C&O Canal Trail near Paw Paw WV. is only moderate in length but it's one of the most unique I've ridden. The trail is built on the tow path and shares the tunnel with the historic C&O Canal. There are only a few such tunnels in the world.

Interesting read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paw_Paw_Tunnel

 

[Viking1]

In the Virginia area is the Blue Ridge Tunnel in Waynesboro. About a mile long. Very neat ride.

 

[6zfshdb]

I was in this one last week:

It's the Kennerdell Tunnel on the Allegheny River Trail in northwestern PA. At just over 1 km, it's long enough where you can't see light from the other end.