As engineers in one of the greatest cycle nations in the world, most of us get to the Lolle & Nielsen-headquarters by bike. So our newest project, where we’re designing a smart bike path, almost feels as patriotic as building a bridge.
The bike path we’re working on, which runs between the towns of Veksø and Stenløse with the school Lærkeskolen, is already categorized as a “super bike path”. But now we’re going to help make it “smart” as well.
The smart part is all about giving the path a new lighting system, which doesn’t just light up during the dark winter, but does it in an interactive way which will – hopefully – make even more pupils from the school use it.
Co-developed with kids
Today a lot of the pupils bike by the heavily trafficked road Frederikssundvej on their way to school. Partly because the super bike path hasn’t been well enough lit so far, but also because the Frederikssundvej-route seems a little faster.
For that reason, the task has been to light the super bike path in a way, that would nudge bikers to use it. And because it is the pupils who’re supposed to have a more fun ride to school, we got 70 students from Lærkeskolen to help us develop the concept during multiple workshops.
The inputs from those workshops turned out to be incredibly creative to say the least: A free-pizza canon, a giant fidget spinner which would generate electricity, a drive-in bio or a aquarium incorporated into the road.
Poster from the first workshop with drawing of some of the kids amazing ideas.
The pupils also told us, that they miss the animals during the winter. For that reason, a part of the solution has been to install nine interactive light-animals – in full size – along the bike path.
The first animal – our Rhino – prototyped and tested.
Nudging Safety The first interactive animals will be installed on the bike path in March, and while it encourages bikers to use the path for a more fun ride, it also nudges safety:
All the pupils will be given a chip to put on their helmets, and the light on the interactive animals only gets activated, if the children are wearing the chip.
Lolle & Nielsen has been responsible for main development activities and will implement the system medio March.The project is made in corporation with Egedal Municipality, Aalborg University and IDadvice, and it’s part of the EU-project ”Lighting Metropolis”. The project will be fully implemented later this year.
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