Cycling Without Borders: Zwolle-Enschede-Münster Corridor

Cycling without borders! What has so far been attractive mainly for cycle tourists seems to become increasingly interesting for cycle commuters as well. In the German-Dutch border region of the Provincie Overijssel and Münsterland, the authorities are working together to develop a continuous cycle route connecting the cities of Zwolle, Enschede and Münster. In the form of a master plan, we have contributed to filling in the missing pieces to make a comfortable, cross-border and safe cycle route possible.

As a native German, I am particularly pleased to be able to contribute to successful Dutch-German cooperation as a mobility advisor. We regularly work with a variety of German partners and see in practice how valuable the combination of technical knowledge and a multidisciplinary perspective is. We have also teamed up with the most suitable partners for the bicycle corridor.

International cooperation is obvious: in 2018, several members of the Euregio Enschede-Gronau signed the “Memorandum Oost-Nederland – Münsterland”, which has cross-border mobility as one of its focal points. So the first steps towards a more sustainable mobility offer have already been taken.

On the Dutch side of the border, for example, there is the F35, which was voted the best cycle route in the Netherlands in 2019. In the German part, the “Velorouten” are becoming increasingly popular – a network of continuous cycle routes around Münster. The future cycle corridor linking these initiatives also connects to the continuous railway line between Zwolle and Münster. This is to be improved as part of the EuregioRail project.

For the Masterplan we have elaborated these and other projects. Our goal was to gather the wishes of the stakeholders along the corridor in order to then bring the right people together. For this purpose, we conducted interviews with stakeholders as well as analysed policy documents. A cross-border project requires switching between local conditions and supra-regional commonalities – a challenge we gladly accepted. After an intensive review process, we finally concluded the project with a successful online meeting – for now. The next steps will be initiated shortly.

For more information on this project or if you have any questions about our service options, please visit www.loenderslootconsultancy.nl