South Holland proposes €40m plan to improve cycling

South Holland plans to spend €40 million on measures to encourage cycling, including safer crossings and improvements to routes between cities. Provincial politicians are due to vote on the proposal at the end of this year.

The money had already been set aside by the provincial council, pending a plan from the provincial executive. The proposal aims to get people cycling “more often, further and more safely”.

It includes work on 20 crossings and replacing tiles with concrete slabs along 13 kilometres of cycle paths beside provincial roads. The province also plans to contribute to cycle paths managed by municipalities.

Four inter-city routes are named: Leiden–Alphen aan den Rijn, The Hague–Leiden, Rotterdam–Dordrecht and Gorinchem–Papendrecht. Provincial executive member Jeroen van Dijken said cycling was essential to South Holland’s accessibility and that growing traffic, population and economic activity made further safety measures necessary.