The Netherlands has created what may be the most spectacular bike facility ever: the Hovenring. This lighted, suspended parallel interchange facility hovers atop a roadway interchange but does much more: by literally and figuratively elevating bike travel above car travel, the Hovenring completely inverts the American approach to transportation and makes rider safety paramount. Could the Hovenring be appropriate to move riders safely through the awful Santa Monica and Wilshire intersection in Beverly Hills?

Northern Europe enjoys a well-deserved reputation for bike-friendly streets. Protected bicycle lanes and bike signals seem de rigeur in every major city in Denmark and the country is rolling out protected  inter-city bike highways. Are riders finally enjoying some parity when it comes to transportation infrastructure investment? Let the Hovenring in the Netherlands answer this question!

Unlike every other piece of mobility infrastructure we’ve seen, the Hovenring (‘hovering ring’) demonstrates a total commitment to safer cycling in the Netherlands. The roundabout safely separates bike traffic from the junction of a busy motorway and a collector street below. The Hovenring also puts the state’s imprimatur on non-motor mobility; here  it’s as legitimate a form of transportation as any other.

How to use the Hovenring? Like any conventional roundabout: approach, yield to oncoming traffic from the left, then circle counterclockwise and exit. But unlike other bike-friendly roundabouts this one does so with considerable imagination. Yet the Hovenring is not alone in literally (and figuratively) elevating riders above the motor traffic. Behold UK architect Lord Norman Foster’s proposal for London bicycle infrastructure: The Sky Cycle:

The Sky Cycle would  accommodate 12,000 cyclists per hour on  cycleways elevated above existing railway lines. Riders would enter and exist via via 200 entrance points, according to Cycling Weekly, which wasn’t impressed. The publication lambasts Sky Cycle for failing to address the “dysfunctionality, screwed priorities and inhuman scale” of the London urban environment.” Copenhagenize dismisses the megaproject out of hand. Arch Daily says, “It will never work.”

We’re sympathetic; we believe it is far better to incorporate multiple modes of transportation into our existing circulation system. But is it simply pie-in-the-sky? Consider that urban planners have long embraced the elevated walkway (Los Angeles has a few skyways) and Foster has an excellent track record planting his fanciful designs in cities across the world. If it doesn’t come first to London it may well surface in Dubai (where they would do well to air-condition the system).

Even if the Sky Cycle is never realized as a standalone system in the UK or elsewhere, it baits our imagination concerning what is possible. Yes, it’s an aspirational proposal but it is one upon which we can draw for inspiration.

A Flyover for Beverly Hills?

We look at the Sky Cycle and marvel at the Hovenring. We can’t help but wonder, can’t such innovations be deployed here in Southern California? Why not start our real multimodal mobility planning efforts at the worst intersection on the Westside – Wilshire at Santa Monica Boulevard in Beverly Hills – where our city officials haven’t lifted a finger to improve the experience for riders. Indeed here’s what road users negotiate today:

The complex juncture of North Santa Monica, South Santa Monica and Wilshire boulevards tests the patience of rider and driver alike!

We’ve called it an intersection that simply fails because riders are put squarely in harm’s way on approach from any direction. As the Brits would say, this intersection is “not fit for purpose.” Consider:

• Wilshire riders face a long slog across both North and South Santa Monica boulevards (it’s a particular challenge for slower riders to make the light heading westbound, which is slightly uphill)
• North Santa Monica eastbound riders are squeezed between the #2 lane and the turn lane (which also doubles as a bus stop). No bike lane or even dotted lane markings guide us, and no bike box gives us a head start. And,
• North Santa Monica westbound riders must negotiate dual right turn lanes  at Wilshire, which sow confusion because most riders are unsure where to wait safely for the green light to continue straight.

The westbound rider who hugs the right-hand curb to the right of the dual lanes finds it impossible to cross because motorists turn right at high speeds on both the solid green and the green arrow. So the rider waiting for the solid green is trapped as cars zip past. On bike count day we saw rider after rider start across but then get hemmed-in by those turning vehicles. Forced to turn right, riders then circled back to try again. Frustrated riders anticipated the green arrow by dashing as the last of the cross-traffic passed. It was madness. Don’t our transportation officials see it? You bet. Heck, we’ve told ’em.

It is nearly as dangerous to wait in the #2 lane. This lane allows traffic to continue straight and to turn right and would seem to be recommended. But pity the rider who waits in the #2  lane for the solid green: she’s strafed by moving traffic turning right at speed even from her lane behind her. So as she waits for the solid green to proceed, drivers  eager to make the turn risk her life and limb to squeeze by. Beverly Hills has chosen to do nothing to address this hazard.

How Do We Do It?

The tunnel concept provides cyclists with a down under solution to road conflict.

First we turned to the Danes. What would they do to improve this intersection? Architect Richard ter Avest, who was in town to attend the LACBC’s ThinkBike conference a few years ago, practically sighed. It’s a mess, he said. He proposed separating the grades by elevating the vehicular traffic or tunneling for bikeways. But elevating the roadway is an expensive proposition and tunneling has its own detractors (for safety reasons).

We needed another approach. The flyover? We’ve talked before about the opportunity to use a flyover for bike traffic at this intersection as part of the Gateway overlay zone discussion. We get to thinking: perhaps the Hovenring offers a model for grade-separating the modes? So here’s our conceptual illustration what a Beverly Hills Hovenring:

The Beverly Hills Hovenring

What recommends a Hovenring at this intersection in particular? Santa Monica and Wilshire boulevards are both among the busiest Westside thoroughfares (a combined near-100k vehicles on average daily). This intersection is among the worst, too, for congestion (with a level of service grade of ‘F’). With more development on the horizon, and without successfully shifting more traffic to other modes (as it says we should in our city plans), we’ll see rider safety  further compromised. We need either a full-on rethinking of how we handle surface traffic here or….

We need to start thinking big. Hovenring big. Sky Way big. And there’s a good argument for it: city leaders want to make a big statement here at our western Gateway.

In fact, we’ve heard it time and again our policymakers debate development here and call for a signature project for this intersection. What better statement to make than a Hovenring? It’s a win-win: an attention getter that gets motorists out of riders’ way.

More on the Hovenring

The Hovenring is a dedicated bike facility in the major southern city of Eindhoven (off the E25 autoroute to Utrecht and Amsterdam). From the Hovenring site:

The bridge comprises a 70-metre high pylon, 24 steel cables and a circular bridge deck and is made out of circa 1.000 tons of steel. The cables are attached to the inner side of the bridge deck, right where the bridge deck connects to the circular, concrete counter weight. This way, torsion within the 72-metre diameter bridge deck is prevented.

Opened in 2012, the Hovenring has already placed in the Dutch Design Award contest and secured a spread in National Geographic for designer ipv delft. But the Hovenring is more than an eye-catcher; it’s a statement about taking responsibility for road users. We need some of that here in Beverly Hills. Why not start with building our own Hovenring?

Hovenring design. All facility images courtesy designer ipv delft.