Europe’s Next Largest Cycling Network Is Underway

Milan, Italy aims to have Europe’s largest cycling network within the next decade and a half, an ambitious plan designed to tackle the environmental issues the country is facing, that it wants to actively resolve.

The Cambio Biciplan — or the “Change Bike Plan” — is a $285 million cycling project aimed at granting Italy’s most populous metropolitan area with 750 km of protected bike lanes. It should be completed by 2035, with the first major cycle highway by this summer.

Measures have already been put into place to improve Milan’s quality of air, such as a congestion charge installed in the city center in 2008 and a ban on diesel vehicles since 2014. The latest one is this spiderweb-shaped cycling network — five concentric bicycle beltways emanating out from the core of the city and crossed by 16 spoke-like tracks. The goal is to ensure that 80% of Milan’s homes are within one kilometer of a fully protected cycling route so biking becomes the easiest choice to get around the Metropolitan City.