Knowledge Georgia Institute of Transportation Engineers visits Houten, Utrecht and Rotterdam 4 May 2026 Cycling News On April 20th-21, the DCE hosted a Study Visit from the US-American Georgia Institute of Transportation Engineers (GAITE). The group, consisting of transportation planners and engineers from Atlanta, Kentucky and North Carolina, spent the first two days of their week-long stay in the Netherlands with the DCE learning from Dutch cycling expertise — on two wheels, of course. We kicked off our first day with a visit to Houten — an exemplary case of Dutch cycling in a highly planned low-traffic urban context. In Houten, the group got to learn from Arjen de Boer, Traffic Policy Officer at the Municipality of Houten about the story of Houten and how it grew from a small village to a large satellite town in response to the challenges of increased urbanisation in the post-war period. The presentations given by Nils Bruinsma (Arcadis) on retrofitting and network planning and Anne Abbing (Goudappel) highlighting the Dutch approach to traffic-calming and car management, proved very insightful, particularly later during our tour through Houten. From the venue in the historic centre of Houten, we started the tour guided by Arjen and Nils’ expertise, grounding the knowledge gained during the presentation into practice, eventually heading back up to Utrecht at the end of the day. On our second and sunnier day, we were lucky to be hosted at the centrally-located Arcadis office in Rotterdam. There, we were joined by Maurits Lopes Cardozo (Bike-minded), who presented on infrastructure and intersection design, as well as by Lior Steinberg (Humankind) whose focus lay in quick wins and temporary to permanent solutions. After a short lunch, Lior guided the group around Rotterdam, with one participant sitting in his famous bakfiets, as he showcased cycling-centred planning in a city reconstructed for the automobile – something certainly relevant for a group coming from the US. Cycling with higher volumes of cycling traffic, alongside, but separate to motorised traffic, gave the group a sense of what cycling infrastructure can look like in urban environments with plenty of car-traffic. After the tour, we regrouped at the office to reflect on the many lessons learnt and to recap the past days. We thank everyone from GAITE for showing up fully and all the enthusiasm and expertise they showed. We also want to extend our thanks to our experts Arjen, Nils, Anne, Lior and Maurits, without whom this visit wouldn’t be possible. Would you like to experience Dutch cycling culture first-hand? Get in touch with us to organise your own study visit. We’d be delighted to welcome you.