ThinkBike Workshop in the Canton of Solothurn

From 27th to 29th August 2024, the Dutch Cycling Embassy held a ThinkBike Workshop for the Canton of Solothurn. Over the course of three days, experts Elke Schimmel of november:city and Ruben Loendersloot of Loendersloot International, together with Emma Stubbe, project coordinator at the Dutch Cycling Embassy, worked closely with the Canton’s Office for Traffic and Civil Engineering and local municipalities to develop collaborative cycling solutions for four junctions in three locations in the Canton.

In the first municipality, Zuchwil, the Canton is planning to improve a city-centre roundabout and a crossing that form part of priority cycle routes in the region. Here, the DCE and its experts opened the workshop with presentations on the development of cycling in the Netherlands, network planning, and how the Dutch plan and problem-solve for cycling-friendly junctions. Participants then visited the junctions in question on foot and by bike. Representatives of the municipality of Zuchwil and adjacent municipalities, together with experts from the Canton’s Office for Traffic and Civil Engineering, then sat down with the DCE delegation to work out collaborative solutions for the junctions. Over the course of the day and half that the DCE spent in Zuchwil, participants became increasingly creative in their design of solutions and  brave in their prioritisation of bike users on the road. The workshop in Zuchwil closed with presentations and discussions of the solutions by Swiss participants, and an in-depth discussion of what the next steps in orgware (political and organisational coordination) should be.

The second half of the workshop took place in Olten. In this area, the Canton of Solothurn is planning to rebuild a junction in the town of Winznau that forms part of a priority cycle route. The town and a neighbouring municipality that much of the traffic stems from had different visions on the junction: the neighbouring municipality wanted to prioritise the smooth flow of all kinds of traffic, while the town was interested in building a town centre and ensuring that children could reach the nearby school safely. In the course of the workshop, which again included presentations and a cycling tour of the junctions, the DCE helped the parties identify common goals and values, and build towards collaborative problem-solving for the junction.

The final junction that the workshop tackled is a heavily used roundabout in the city of Olten. The current cycling experience is not optimal, and the Canton used the opportunity to collaboratively review different solutions for the planned priority cycle route that will lead through the area. Participants designed and discussed different routes – largely avoiding the roundabout – for their merits and shortcomings, with Dutch input. The Dutch experts also asked participants to step back from the infrastructure discussions to look at the bigger picture and consider what political and communicative strategies would be helpful to overcome challenges that may arise as the Canton takes its next steps in this project.

The three days in the Canton of Solothurn were thought-provoking, inspiring and productive, and the DCE looks forward to continuing conversations and for the region to become more cycling-friendly.