Pilot project "Copenhagen bicycle lanes"
Overhaul of Hamburg’s Elbchaussee route

Hamburg’s Elbchaussee road connects the city’s Ottensen and Blankenese districts along the River Elbe. This popular road and busy excursion route is currently being renovated and adapted to traffic needs in several areas. The project includes the provision of new drinking water, gas and power lines, the reconstruction of carriageway and sidewalks, and the optimisation of cycle traffic management.

For the first time in Hamburg, the use of so-called "Copenhagen bicycle lanes", which are separated by low kerbs from both the roadway and the footpath, is being planned along a substantial length of road. The use of “sharrow” bicycle pictograms (the term “sharrow” being a combination of the words "share" and "arrow") is also new. These are used where there is too little space to allow separation of cycle and vehicular traffic, to remind motorists that they must share the road with cyclists. This solution, which is not included in the German design guidelines, was "imported" from the USA/Canada and has already been used successfully in several German cities.

Additional crossing locations with traffic lights increase safety for pedestrians. During the construction period, the flow of traffic will be maintained in one direction. On behalf of Hamburg’s state authority for roads, bridges and waterways, Inros Lackner is jointly responsible, as part of a joint venture, for the planning and design work and for the coordination of the construction phases, and is supporting the carrying out of the applicable consultation process.

^{Photos: LSBG}