Knowledge Santa Cruz, CA visits the Netherlands 12 June 2024 Cycling News Santa Cruz, a city south of San Francisco, is eager to further develop its cycling culture. During a ThinkBike Workshop in 2022, the DCE, Santa Cruz and the local Gazelle Experience Center started working together. Gazelle’s beautiful experience center in Santa Cruz enables people to test drive all kinds of bicycles. To further improve the cycling conditions, Santa Cruz and neighboring cities Capitola and Watsonville, travelled to the Netherlands for a study visit from June 3rd – 6th 2024. The study visit started in The Hague, a city located next to the sea, just as Santa Cruz. Teun Zeegers from Ministry for Infrastructure and Water Management presented about the national goals from the Netherlands to further increase cycling. Teije Gorris (Go-bility) presented about cycling networks and the five design principles that form the basis of a network. Alex van Gent and Matt Bearden (Arcadis) presented about infrastructure design and the effects of our infrastructure on our travel behavior. Finally, Ruben Loendersloot (Loendersloot Consultancy) presented about cycle highways and how they connect communities. After presentations indoors, it was time to hop on our bikes and cycle to the beach. The group experienced the ease to cycle from the busy city center to the lively beach village Scheveningen. On the second day of the visit, we traveled to Rotterdam. The second biggest city of the Netherlands and a city with a very urban character. Bart Christiaens (City of Rotterdam) welcomed the group and presented about the city’s vision for cycling and how to help everyone in the city to own a bike. Ruxandra Aelenei (R.A. Planning) presented how a bike plan always needs a car plan. This is to improve the traffic flow for all road users and to create safe situations. Maurits Lopes Cardozo showed us the ins and outs of intersection design and when to choose for a signalized intersection and when a roundabout is the better option. In the afternoon we explored Rotterdam by bike, with the Erasmus Bridge as one of the highlights of the day. The last day of the study visit took place in Delft where we were hosted by Mobycon. Lennart Nout and Anna Wyner immediately dived in deep with discussions about signalization, (car-free) school zones, and tactical urbanism. The bike tour was split in two: one group focussing on school zones and residential areas, whereas the other group biked to the outskirts of Delft for a rural cycling experience. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with Santa Cruz!