National
The DCE’s Chris Bruntlett compiled the following list of The Netherlands’ most impressive bicycle infrastructure for the book De Fijne Stad by Vincent Luyendijk. Forty unique constructions, in alphabetical order. The list is originally published in Dutch here and the book is available to order here: www.defijnestad.nl.
Prior to 2013, bicycle parking facilities were not always the most attractive buildings. When redeveloping its station area, Alphen aan de Rijn managed to create an iconic structure with its bike storage: the eye-catching Fietsappel (“Bicycle Apple”) with 2,850 spaces.
📍 https://maps.app.goo.gl/fbUyf1mDVQ9J281Z8
Best practice dictates cycle routes minimize detours and stops, and—in urban contexts—are prioritized and at-grade at junctions. This ring road roundabout in the Amersfoort suburbs presented a unique challenge, so designers opted to tunnel the route through its center.
📍 https://maps.app.goo.gl/PPtL8nQz8SDqJwan6
The ‘Veentunnel’ railway underpass provides a quicker and safer connection between Nijkerk and Amersfoort for both pedestrians and cyclists. The interior was beautifully activated by ProRail, engaging with 1,700 residents to paint their own work of art on a tile.
📍 https://maps.app.goo.gl/rkt2zYReRd7Aj8iAA
This bike parking in Amsterdam has space for 4,000 bikes and has a sustainable and eco-friendly design that integrates low-energy consumption, sustainable materials, and features that promote biodiversity, along with 6,000 square meters of new public space.
📍 https://maps.app.goo.gl/9xnEna9koAt4nrgW9
Floating 10 metres above and 164 metres across the Rhine, the Nesciobrug is a vital connection from IJburg to the mainland. A beautiful piece of engineering and design, the bridge splits at both ends to separate pedestrians from cyclists and improve its stability.
📍 https://maps.app.goo.gl/Mmo5A1n6KG6hjzso6
For opposing the Rijksmuseum’s plan to close this passage in 2003, The Fietsersbond were called “bike terrorists” and “fundamentalists who let their own minor interests prevail over all forms of reasonableness.” It’s fair to say they are on the right side of history.
📍 https://maps.app.goo.gl/gpgdTzuymaxqhgSv6
This project forms part of the ‘binnenring’: a transformative vision to improve walking, cycling and public transport around the canal ring of Amsterdam. When complete in 2026, it will form a ‘green belt’—where cars are guests—across the entire width of the inner city.
📍 https://maps.app.goo.gl/Scyan3gw28qtENLz7
In January 2023, Amsterdam Central Station opened a new bike parking facility, which was not built on or underground, but underwater. As the city’s largest such facility, the Stationsplein bike garage was built under the Open Harbour and can store 7,000 bikes.
📍 https://maps.app.goo.gl/CmLL5ZSeL16dyWpD7
The Maasover is a €12 million cycling bridge connecting Cuijk in North-Brabant with Mook in Limburg. Opened in 2020, it is the last link in a 12 km continuous cycling route from Cuijk to Nijmegen; a collaboration between three municipalities and three provinces.
📍 https://maps.app.goo.gl/XCtubSKhRCyTBDgC7
Delft’s “second station” recently underwent a major facelift; doubling its rail capacity, while improving first and last mile connections. The solar panel roof provides all necessary electricity, making it the first energy-neutral train station in the Netherlands.
📍 https://maps.app.goo.gl/7jz3HB1AQe7CSkJZ8
Built around 1400, Delft’s Oosterpoort (“Eastern Gate”) is the last remaining entry of eight that once ringed the fortressed and moated city. It now serves as a private residence, art gallery, and arguably one of the most beautiful pieces of bike infrastructure in the world.
📍 https://maps.app.goo.gl/qjo2n5qUT4VW3BKj6
In July 2023, Gemeente Den Haag cut the ribbon on a spectacular 8,500-space bicycle parking garage beneath the city’s Central Station. With a surface area of 8,000 square metres—or one-and-a-half football fields—the facility is the second largest in the country.
📍 https://maps.app.goo.gl/R8xt6CWbFLd15tHp7
The Municipality of The Hague is working to improve the connectivity of their cycling network with the Trekfietstracé (“Trek Cycle Route”). Part of this ‘star route’ is a prefabricated, 335-meter-long, €12-million cycling viaduct over the A4 motorway, which opened in July 2020.
📍 https://maps.app.goo.gl/GHmy1mS2dYp1fLcp6
In 2009, the boulevard of Scheveningen was redesigned. More sand, a solid dyke and a brand new boulevard changed it into a safe, beautiful seaside resort, ready for the future. The project has a length of 2 kilometres and stretches from Sealife to ‘the Fisherman’s wife’,
A design chosen from 127 entries, Dordrecht’s Prins Clausbrug was opened by Queen Beatrix in 2022 at a cost of €12 million. Spanning 140 meters across the Wantij River, the bascule bridge’s 260-ton ballast mast lifts 57 meters tall to allow for passing ships.
You have to spend money to save it, and Eindhoven’s €6.3 million Hovenring may be the smartest money they’ve spent. Each year, the floating roundabout returns millions in increased safety, flow, health, and tourism—an icon for a city that takes cycling seriously.
📍 https://maps.app.goo.gl/cweBX6brWvg1hbKs8
“You can’t get rid of 12,000 cars!” claimed critics when in 2017, Eindhoven proposed the transformation of Oirschotsedijk. A former arterial road dissecting Philips de Jonghpark is now an accessible and delightful green space, reconnected by a 5.5 metre cycle path.
📍 https://maps.app.goo.gl/5n1xzF4BDCoLVcBx5
After the Hovenring, Eindhoven is no stranger to putting itself on the map with impressive cycling infrastructure. The Tegenbosch bridge is a €12 million, 160 metre long, 7 metre wide prefabricated structure spanning 14 lanes over the A2 and N2 motorways.
📍 https://maps.app.goo.gl/WPENu2pUaogtyGw48
In February 2021, the Province of Groningen officially opened the longest walking and cycling bridge in the European Union. The €6.5 million, 3.5 metre wide, 800 metre long Pieter Smitbrug provides an active travel link between Winschoten and Blauwestad.
📍 https://maps.app.goo.gl/dz1mpJ5o9U23mw3y6
‘The Middenweg’ is a main route for walking, cycling, and public transportation in the town of Heerhugowaard. In order to improve safety for all road users, a redesign was urgently needed. The solution? The longest dedicated cycling street in the Netherlands.
📍 https://maps.app.goo.gl/2pmCBfstvJVyRRwv8
Since 57% of people living in Houten arrive at the train station by bike, it is important to make the transit from bike to train comfortable. In 2010, the station was renovated, and a bike transfer centre was built underneath the train track with space to park 3,100 bicycles.
📍 https://maps.app.goo.gl/JQruY8jgyhfoRXhn7
Not long ago, the A2 motorway divided the city of Maastricht in two. But the corridor where the roadway once was has been redeveloped for people. A billion euros was spent to build a 2.3 kilometre tunnel, creating a “green carpet” with 2,000 newly planted trees.
📍 https://maps.app.goo.gl/m7X3BSwXnD44AS4x6
The Liniebrug is a cycling bridge that connects Nigtevecht and Abcoude on either side of the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal. Serving both transportation and recreation, the 10-metre-high deck is accessed by a snaking, 300-metre ramp to ensure universal access.
📍 https://maps.app.goo.gl/NDuDckXD7vDoQskY7
Doorfietsroutes make up the next wave of Dutch infrastructure, allowing (e-)bikes to compete with cars over longer distances. On the RijnWaalpad, (e-)cyclists can ride 17.7 km between the centers of Arnhem and Nijmegen without putting their foot down once.
Built in 2004 as a “quick connection” to 15,000 new homes in the suburb of Lent, the Snelbinder is a two kilometre cycling bridge attached to the side of a 125-year-old rail bridge across the River Waal, saving cyclists a 10-minute, kilometer-long detour to the east.
📍 https://maps.app.goo.gl/dzqfRbhHwQNZ76A27
This bridge forms an important connection on the Rijnwaalpad: a non-stop, 16 km route from Nijmegen to Arnhem, designed to reduce congestion on local roads and trains; one of nine routes connecting residential, employment, commercial, and educational hubs.
An elegant gateway to the small town of Oirschot is a beautiful wooden walking and cycling bridge: the Stönner-Meijwaardbrug. The gentle incline provides easy access for carriages, mobility scooters and wheelchairs; while the steps offer pedestrians a shortcut.
📍 https://maps.app.goo.gl/FTUkZiyxDtMxZy3D8
Built across the North Holland Canal in 2012, Purmerend’s €6-million Melkwegbrug is as much a destination as a connection. Pedestrians can choose between the 14-meter high archway and the lower mixed-use span, the latter of which opens in order to let ships pass.
📍 https://maps.app.goo.gl/kW8RmV5v45qECRsk6
Rijswijk is situated on both sides of a busy shipping canal, acting as a barrier for cyclists and pedestrians. The solution? A moveable swing bridge with an 18 metre high mast, which proved to be economically and structurally efficient, as well as incredibly eye-catching.
📍 https://maps.app.goo.gl/UxUE9uFHtikc8sJUA
In 2021, Rotterdam’s main boulevard—the Coolsingel—was reimagined as a city lounge; with 10,000 fewer cars per day, a 30 km/h design speed, dedicated tramway, and more space for walking, cycling, and sitting—including a 4.5 metre cycle track.
📍 https://maps.app.goo.gl/KxC3eZDfZ2AGjUBe7
First opened under German occupation in 1942, the Maastunnel moved 40,000 cyclists under the Maas River each day. Its entirely separate entries, escalators, and tunnels for active modes make it a rather forward-thinking, and praise-worthy piece of infrastructure.
📍 https://maps.app.goo.gl/PeKsMzEC9hjFSePB6
Opened in 2014, the Portlandsebrug is an eye-catching, €9-million bridge in the south of Rotterdam. The 6.5-meter-wide structure spans 190-meters across a freight railway and A15 motorway, connecting to a residential neighborhood and nature reserve.
📍 https://maps.app.goo.gl/VEsYq5osn5pcBm2E7
Utrecht’s Dafne Schippers Bridge follows in the Dutch tradition of working together to find space-efficient design solutions. An elementary school acts as the on-ramp to a newly-built bike crossing of the Amsterdam-Rijn Canal, complete with cycle path on the roof.
📍 https://maps.app.goo.gl/fbzx9LVWY54sVRMu9
Knowing every penny invested in active travel returns more in employee satisfaction and productivity, in 2017 Rabobank co-funded this bridge in Utrecht.They contributed €9 million to the €15 million project; directly connecting their headquarters to the center.
📍 https://maps.app.goo.gl/4zGiFU3ntUzoL66A6
When Utrecht opened a 12,500-bike parking facility in 2019, the largest in the world, critics called the €30-million price tag “crazy”. But when a “bikenomics” lens was applied, they found the societal benefits—health, pollution, congestion—far outweighed the costs.
📍 https://maps.app.goo.gl/pEBQctt71NrHLbja8
The product of a public competition in which 2,600 residents voted, “De Weerdsprong” is a spectacular €2-million walking and cycling bridge built in 2012 as part of a development along the Maas in Venlo which features green space, shops, and apartment buildings.
‘De Twist’ is a bicycle bridge over the Vlaardingervaart in the town of Vlaardingen. The corkscrew-like distorted box bridge is also intended for pedestrians and was completed in 2009. It connects the residential area of Holy-Zuid with Maassluis, Maasland and Westwijk.
📍 https://maps.app.goo.gl/459NaQUQXMUo6vLf7
Inspired by a painting by Dutch master Meindert Hobbema, the 220-meter Jan Waaijerbrug in Zoetermeer spans two cycle tracks, three ditches, two tram tracks, and a dual carriageway. The light fixtures have solar panels that generate energy returned to power grid.
📍 https://maps.app.goo.gl/ktRcjEkiDLQFNuBG8
Built in 2010, the Hanzeboog is a rail and cycle bridge spanning 925 metres across the IJssel River in Zwolle. Its striking colour and shape makes it not just photogenic but also mediagenic—having become an icon for the city and the subject of a postage stamp.
📍 https://maps.app.goo.gl/nsrVKMJuZMrcXJ328
Recognizing its role as a gateway to the city, mobility hub, and public space, Zwolle recently redeveloped its station square. This included 5,800 underground bike parking spaces. The area above acts as a ‘super sponge’; designed to collect rainwater during extreme rain.
📍 https://maps.app.goo.gl/y8rvYezb9R67LMT77
Some of the finest examples and practices.