In other news, I have decided to let this blog flow into the rest of the summer. This post will be part one because I have so much to write about and don't want to leave any out. As soon as I get through the past two weeks I will get back to a routine of regular posts.
I'm already 1/3 of the way through my time here, I can't believe it! To preface my time in the Netherlands is focused on sustainable transportation. The Dutch are famous for their bike infrastructure. Their roads, cities, and I think even the people are designed to give bicyclists priority. We are studying their transportation system here to see how they have about 1/3 as many road fatalities per capita than in the United States. The most impressive part is that it hasn't always been like that. In the 1970's there were protests in Amsterdam to stop the expansion of roads and protect the Dutch children from the threats of the car. Needless to say it worked and the Dutch are now ahead in their transportation engineering. Like any good tourist, we hope to bring home their safest measures to the people of Boston and the United States and get Americans on bikes!
Our professor has us staying in Delft in a few different dorms a good distance from TU Delft (the university we are based out of). Just like my typical commute from home, we have to cross a roundabout and a water body (unless a boat is passing under the bridge) to get to class. The biggest difference here is we bike EVERYWHERE and the biggest safety threat is traveling in a pack of 28-40 people down a 4.5' cycle track. There have been a few bumps along the way, but everyone has made it to school in the morning so I would say we're successful as a whole.
I don't know how to cover all the time we have without leaving anything out. As much as I want to keep everyone at home informed, I don't want to lose all the memories I am gaining so I am going to go through a brief day by day recap. I will only get through two weeks ago tonight then will continue with last week in my next post. Some days are more exciting than other and if it entices you to stay until the end yesterday was on of the more exciting days (see what I did there to make you want to come back for my next post? :) ).
The date of my last post. The rest of the Northeastern students arrived in the afternoon. Everyone got our bikes and worked on getting settled. A few of us ventured into downtown Delft for some quiet Fourth of July drinks. No fireworks but I discovered the great views of the sunset from my room.
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| The 15e definitely isn't the penthouse but it doesn't get much better than this |
We had our first unofficial bicycling adventure with my Northeastern classmates to Den Haag (the Hague). It was almost 15 miles round trip. The Hague is where the Dutch government is located, though we didn't see them on a Sunday. There, some of us (not me) had their first taste of pickled herring. Those brave souls liked it but I decided to save my taste testing for a later date (stay tuned). We did some wandering around but plan on going back so didn't commit to much, except a new sweater at Primark. There was some rain in the forecast and when it started to drizzle we took shelter in an Irish pub. Great nachos. Eventually we thought we read the radar correctly and embarked on the ride home. We were 15 minutes into the hour bike ride home when the skies opened up. It was a Dutch christening. After being so warm across Europe the days before, the soaking rain was a welcome feeling for me and the fields that shone greener as we passed. I loved it. There are not enough times in life when all you can do in life is laugh and pedal on. This was one so I definitely didn't want to let it slip away unenjoyed. And of course as soon as we arrived home the skies cleared for another beautiful sunset.
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| The herring before |
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| Kurt before |
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| Kurt and a little less of the herring after |
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| Tyler bicycles Boston (and the Hague!) |
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| Can't get enough sunset pictures |
Today was the first day of class and our first official bicycling adventure. We received an overview of transportation in the Netherlands in the morning than visited bicycling infrastructure around Delft. We visited a two-way cycle track, woonerf (neighborhood that is closed to most cars) single lane roundabout (roundabout with bicycle lanes and safe pedestrian crossings), bike boulevard (road with bike priority), and protected intersection (intersection that provides a safe crossing for pedestrians and bicyclists). The links for our class blog above will take you specifically to my groups write-ups. If my descriptions aren't enough, these will provide more information. If you just want to see what I did, check out the single land roundabout.
Tuesday, July 7
A few birthday shutouts today, if you're reading this you know who you are. Today was packed with lectures. Some highlights:
- Whenever the Dutch design a road and give space to a car, they also give space to the bike.
- Many people are stressed by traffic so the goal of transportation engineers should be to provide people with a less stressful environment for biking. This addresses the idea that not everyone is a vehicular cyclists (the people you see with the heart to bike like a car) and many people would be interested in biking if there was a safe, less stressful route to their destination. This belief is not shared by the entire business but I will leave you with a question of which you would prefer: if you could bike to work sharing a lane with cars going 30 mph or in your own cycletrack separated from those same 30 mph cars by a 6' wide row of trees?
- Most manuals used by transportation engineers in the US does not consider bicycling infrastructure--something our professor is determined to change!
Wednesday, July 8
Today we received a presentation from one of the Portland State professors about the measures Portland, OR is taking for sustainable transportation. The interesting thing about Portland is that they have redefined their transportation hierarchy to prioritize pedestrians, bicyclists, public transit, commercial vehicles/trucks, high occupancy vehicles, then signal occupancy vehicles as the least important. This is a bold move that has allowed them to advance plans for their bicycling infrastructure but more importantly the safety of people. If you looked at the previous list, who is most at risk of being injured or worse in a collision? I would say for sure the pedestrians and bicyclist.
We also went on our second tour of Dutch infrastructure and visited locations with bike specific underpasses and bridges, bike lanes, and advisory bike lanes. I worked on the advisory bike lanes post but have some edits to fix. These are drafts that we will be revising throughout the semester so you may see some of our professors comments in all caps. We will be updating those later this week.
The day ended with a welcome BBQ where we got to meet and get to know each other, Portland State students, Cal Poli students, TU Delft professors, and some other guest speakers. There was also an open bar for a bit which lead many of us to have the Dutch experience of Heineken. All I can say to that is: good food, good people, good fun.
Thursday, July 9
Some more birthday shutouts, especially to my beautiful, bride-to-be cousin Kate! Today we spent the day touring Rijswijk. We visited many locations throughout the city, particularly their bicycling and public transportation infrastructure. We also received a presentation from the city department in their absolutely gorgeous city hall. Some highlights are as follows:
- We got to see a drawbridge that rotates on its axis instead of lifting up. This is a very cool thing to see, especially when the bridge is dedicated to only bicyclists. However there is one downfall, starting bicycling up a bridge on a hill in a large group is no easy task.
- By the train station, there were crossings setup so a pedestrian or bicycle could walk with a "green wave," meaning the signals allowed people to get all the way across the street without stopping.
- There was coffee at the city hall meeting....
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| Prof. Paul Wiggenraad, TU Delft and a bike bridge |
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| Jeff, Katie L, and some traffic calming measures |
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| Green Wave! |
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| Professor Furth! |
Friday, July 10
Today our focus included some of the suburban planning aspects of transportation engineering. This is tightly linked with sustainable transportation, especially how the Dutch set up their cities. Planners believe in the finger approach, which means rail transportation lines reach out from city centers then land surrounding the transit lines are built up. As density increases, rings starting in the city center of transportation routes such as light rail and buses connect destinations. By setting their land up with a backbone (or in this case phalanges) there is a strong sense of connected neighborhoods. Additionally, each neighborhood is equipped with grocery stores, schools, and many essentials close to home. With this organization, people have shorter trips to reach their shopping and other destinations, allowing them to bike on these small trips. To see an example of this, we visited Leidschenveen-Ypenburg, a small town outside of the Hague. Some highlights:
- Tyler and I made friends with a Dutch woman over lunch who gave us the real scoop on transportation: she prefers traveling by moped. Mopeds are currently terrorizing bicycle paths around the Netherlands (who said it was ok to have a 35mph moped on a bike path?!)
- We visited some dikes and pump stations. I am most interested in hydrology and this always fascinates me. When I think of the Netherlands, I think of the windmills that were commonly used to pump water to mind the levels on the dikes. However, the pump we visited used a steam engine which is now on display. You can't tell from pictures but there was a significant 3 meter (almost 10') difference between water levels but it doesn't flood. AMAZING!
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| Tyler was warm and trying to make his pants into shorts |
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| Old pump house |
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| Old pump |
Today was all about roundabouts. I find roundabouts exciting because every day I left my hometown I had to cross one. For everyone who doesn't know: there is a difference between a roundabout and a rotary. Rotaries are typically much larger, higher speeds, and see higher traffic flow whereas roundabouts are smaller, safer, and are more awesome (that last one might be my opinion). Roundabouts process more cars per hour than a typical signalized intersection because they don't halt flow. People are often skeptic but I encourage you not to be. We also got to visit something called a turbo roundabout that you can see below.
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| Turbo Roundabout |
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| Our group wanted to play Frisbee, the wind didn't want that happen |
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| We sat by the brown bear marker, right past Club WOW |
Sunday, July 12
Today was our first free day since we started class so we got a slow start then headed to Rotterdam by train. Rotterdam was rebuilt after the second world war so it has an interesting compilation of architecture that has been surrounded by artwork, some of with questionable motives. We wandered through the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen before making our way to a jazz bar. If we had planned better we would have gotten tickets for a massive jazz concert that was in town that weekend with artists such as Tony Bennet, Lady Gaga, Mary J. Blige, John Legon, Alabama Shakes, Hozier, and many more. However, we were told some artists were headed to the jazz bar so we were optimistic. We found our way via yellow wooden bridge but were unfortunately hours early for any live music. It was still a great day and way to conclude our first week.
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| The Rotterdam Crew |
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| Street Art |
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| The Yellow Wooden Bridge |
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| I am always seeking a new favorite color |
If you just can't wait, here is my friend Matt Duranleau's blogs that is much more recent to see a version of what we've been up to: http://duranleauinthenetherlands.blogspot.nl/.
Also, we are continually updating our class blog so to see that at any point the link is: http://nuweb1.neu.edu/holland2015sustrans/. (FYI: This is a work in progress through the end of our time here. You might see draft comments from our professor, feel free to check back because it will be updated!)
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