 Practitioner's Perspective on User Experience and Design of Cycle Highways Published in Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives Authors George Liu, Markut Bromusrut, Sukanya Khristamurthy, Peter Von Vesamel Read by George Liu This audio article version omits all references Please see the original paper for reference list Highlights Cycle highways are primarily built as functional connections that relieve automobile traffic congestion. Funding schemes set minimum functional criteria, but practitioners see added value of improving cycling experiences. Cycle highway design should accommodate the unique needs of cyclists distinct from automobile drivers and pedestrians. Design of cycle highways are flexible and can be adapted depending on environmental context and spatial constraints. Abstract Cycle highways, also known as fast cycle routes, are an emerging concept in urban planning that describes long distance, high quality bicycle routes built for commuter use. In northern European countries large sums of money are invested into cycle highways promising to induce a mode shift with little critical assessment as to how cyclists experience these infrastructures. Three eleven interviews of practitioners from five European countries, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, United Kingdom, and Denmark. This paper explores how practitioners define cycle highways and how their conceptualizations of cycling experience shape the physical design of cycle highways. Results show that while practitioners are guided by infrastructural standards for cycle highways, such as width, design speed, and intersection treatments, it is less clear how these infrastructure elements fit within the surrounding environment to create desirable cycling experiences. In addition to commuters, cycle highways are also used by recreational and sports cyclists so policymakers and designers should consider a wide variety of user groups and their aesthetic and social experiences in the planning and design of cycle highways. Future research should investigate cycle highway experiences from the perspective of various users. One, introduction. Cities around the world are building cycle highways to encourage sustainable inter-urban transport using bicycles, e-bikes, and other forms of small wheeled vehicles. To further reduce automobile use and to promote physical activity, environmental sustainability, economic growth, and accessibility, cities in Europe have invested in a large variety of infrastructure and policies to improve the attractiveness of cycling. Cycle highways are often framed within a package of interventions along with improvements to public transport with the intent of changing commuting behavior by substituting investments in road infrastructure to cope with the expected computer traffic growth. From general cycling research, we know that cycling becomes relatively less attractive compared to other modes as trip distances increase. Cycle highways seek to encourage cycling for longer distance commuting trips and survey data from governments seems to suggest that users of cycle highways do indeed tend to take longer trips. On a policy level, Rea Prulu et al. attribute cycle highways to a Dutch concept in response to quote, rising environmental and health consciousness and the growing popularity of electric bicycles end quote. At the time of writing this paper, there are major cycle highway routes and networks being planned and constructed in Northern and Western Europe. The Netherlands was the first to experiment with a cycle highway concept with demonstration routes in Tilburg and The Hague in the 1970s. Yet modern designs have only been implemented since 2004. More recently, the concept of cycle super highways have been popularized in the English media with London opening its first routes in 2010 and having eight completed as of 2018. Copenhagen opened their first cycle highway in 2012 with 15 planned for 2021. More recently, Germany began executing their first plans for cycle highways with three pilot projects in 2012, following the examples of cycle highways from the Netherlands, Copenhagen, Belgium and London. Similarly, the Netherlands is planning a nationwide network of bicycle highways that connect urban cores. As more attention, funding and projects utilize the language of cycle highways to improve cycling numbers. There does not appear to be a clear understanding among design and planning professionals and policymakers of what cycle highways are and what they should be with evolving conceptualization of its design and purpose. For example, the first generation of cycle super highways in London built in 2010 was little more than blue paint on high traffic roads. London's new cycle super highways have since evolved towards a more continental design, incorporating elements such as traffic separation and protected intersections. The European Cyclists Federation CHIPS project defines cycle highways as quote, a mobility product that provides a high quality functional cycling connection. As backbone of a cycling network, it connects cities and or suburbs, residential areas, and major workplaces, and it satisfies its potential users, end quote. However, there are multiple terms that could be used almost interchangeably to describe similar typologies such as cycle super highways, greenways, high quality bicycle paths, through cycle routes, and fast cycle routes to name a few. Without a clear definition and especially given the variety of languages used to describe the cycle highway concept, it is difficult to assess the performance of cycle highways as an interest venture and to transfer knowledge about the successes and failures, especially across countries. It also blinds us to the underlying and contested assumptions of what cycling is or ought to be. Currently, the terminology of cycle highway might be strengthening an underlying vehicular approach to bicycle infrastructure design. In relation to this, Dutch practitioners Sargentini and Valenta warned that bicycle paths should not be built with the same logic as automobile highways, and instead should take into cyclists embodied experience and a variety of individual motives into account. They urged practitioners to stay away from car oriented thinking, moving beyond A to B logic, and proclaim, quote, do not make cycle highways into car highways. This plea for unpacking of the black box of travel by developing a more nuanced understanding of the journey is echoed by Mobility's researchers who have conceptualized travel in terms of meaning and experiences. There is also tension within the concept cycle highway itself. On the one hand, cycling has an experiential element that scholars have attempted to conceptualize in relation to aesthetics, emotions, and spatial design. Yet the term cycle highway seems to place this type of infrastructure more in common with the logic of automobile highways, focused only on the fast and efficient transport of people and goods. Hamilton Bailey conceptualized traffic zones versus social zones as realms of competing logic, both physically and conceptually. Hamilton Bailey defines the traffic zone as, quote, single purpose, uniform, regulated, impersonal, and predictable, end quote, whereas the social zone is characterized as, quote, multifunctional, diverse, culturally defined, personal, unpredictable, end quote. On the street, these zones are demarcated by the sidewalk for pedestrians and the roadway for motorized vehicles. Where do cycle highways belong on this scheme and what design logic do cycle highways currently follow? To what extent do practitioners pay attention to each aspect of Hamilton Bailey's logic and do these cycle highways seek to create a unique zone for the cyclist, taking into account Forseth and Kreisich's unique perspective of the cyclist? In academic literature, cycle highways have been analyzed from a few perspectives. From bicycle counter data and three questionnaire campaigns, Sculve Peterson et al. analyzes Copenhagen cycle highways in the framework of induced travel demand, cyclist satisfaction, and competition for funding. From a public health perspective, Bucher's et al. estimates the health impact of motor shifts due to two cycle highways in Flanders, Belgium. From the physical design perspective, Christian Jostotier and Sjo provides a technical overview of European cycle highway standards in the Netherlands, Denmark, United Kingdom, Germany, Norway, and Sweden, focusing on engineering criteria, such as infrastructure type, intersections, markings, lighting, width, curve radii, etc. This paper seeks to develop an understanding of how practitioners define cycle highways and how they conceptualize users, experiences, and design in relation to cycle highways. Cycle highways incorporate many of the elements known to improve the attractiveness of cycling, such as priority crossings, rest areas, lighting, and effective wayfinding. While these measures have been shown to improve the attractiveness of cycling routes, there is relatively little academic research on how these elements impact the experience of cycling, and none to date they explore practitioners' conceptualization of cycling experience. Thus our research questions are, 1. What are the main concepts used to describe and define cycle highways by practitioners? 2. How do practitioners articulate cyclist types and cyclist motives within the conceptualization of cycle highways? 3. How is cycling experience conceptualized by cycle highway practitioners? 4. How is the perspective of a cyclist reflected in the design of cycle highways? 2. Methodology 2. Selection of Practitioners We interviewed practitioners from five European countries that are actively working on developing cycle highway networks, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, United Kingdom, and Denmark. To select interview participants, an initial search was conducted of internet and media reports of cycle highway projects that are either recently constructed, under construction, or being planned in the near future. Particular attention was paid to Northern and Western European countries in which cycling is relatively mature. London, although with lower cycling rates, have been actively building a cycle highway system. From the list of projects, based on geographic location, expert government practitioners were selected for interviews based on their associated project, their position in the organization, and their work portfolio having contained cycle highways. Interviewees for this research hold or have previously held positions in regional or provincial governments working on cycle highway projects for at least two years. The time in their position is used as an indicator of their familiarity with the subject area. Given the relative novelty of cycle highways as a concept, none of the interviewees had a formal education in cycle highway planning and design, and perhaps due to the novelty of the cycle highway concept, none spent more than 10 years working on cycle highways. All interviews were conducted in English. C-Table 1 for cycle highway interviewee participants, affiliations, and their associated cycle highway projects. 2.2 Interview Structure We followed a semi-structured interview format consisting of four sections. These sections as practitioners about one, the general concept of cycle highways including their typology, differentiation, and best practices. Two, the cycle highways as they have currently worked on, including design priorities, good and bad aspects of design, and target users. Three, describing the ideal cycling experience and relating this ideal experience to any considerations of cycling experience in the design of the case study cycle highway. And four, the professional role and knowledge sources of the interviewee, including the focus of their work, extent and type of their professional network, experience with cycle highways, and use of professional and academic sources on cycle highway design. Each interview lasted between 45 minutes to one hour, and participants were encouraged to share personal anecdotes were relevant to the question. Interviews were recorded in person or through recorded telephone or internet voice call. Interview data was transcribed and then coded inductively focusing on the following themes. One, definition of cycle highways. Two, design of cycle highways. Three, user types and trip purposes. And four, experience of cycling. See appendix A for interview script. After transcription of the interview, we coded for themes in the interview answers. These themes then formed the basis for the findings of this paper. Three, findings. Three point one, competing logics. The interviews began by establishing how cycle highways are defined. Participants were asked, what is a cycle highway? And what makes cycle highways distinct from other types of infrastructure? Participants responded with reference to three general themes representing competing logics that are implicit in the discourse surrounding cycle highways. These logics contextualize the extent to which cycling experience plays a role in the current discourse among practitioners. These categories are, one, political context, jurisdiction and funding. Two, infrastructure and environmental quality. Three, directness, efficiency and competition with other modes. Cycle highways are defined differently among the practitioners interviewed, varying among responses coming from the perspective of policy makers, designers and engineers. Some respondents feel there is no clear definition at this point. NL2 states, quote, I've got no clue. I've been working on it for 10 years and I've got no clue. But it really depends on who you ask. I think that's the proper answer, end quote. Policy makers have also framed the concept of cycle highways differently depending on the state of political priorities. In reference to the Netherlands, quote, probably the best answer in the coming four years is that it will help us reduce our carbon dioxide emissions and maybe in the next four years after that it might contribute to a healthier city. By strategic positioning of projects as cycling highway you see that it gets us more attention and gets us more political attention and thus you can get more funding and then suddenly you can also become more ambitious as a matter of fact and you can invest more. NL2, end quote. Cycle highways should also distinguish itself from other cycling infrastructure by having a distinct character achieved through signage, infrastructure design and environmental quality. GR2 states, quote, at the first glimpse you should see that it's more than just an ordinary bike path, meaning there should be a special design, a special color scheme and a unique signage of the cycle highway so that you can see it's not just an ordinary bike path but that you have a really special way for cycling, end quote. When asked about taking cyclist experiences into account, BE2 says there is a growing realization of the importance of surrounding environment adjacent to the cycle path stating, quote, we are struggling with this question because our main goal what our politicians asked from us is that we build a clean smooth and wide infrastructure and there is not really a vision about how a cycle highway feels and what it has to offer alongside this infrastructure, end quote. Definitions of cycle highways tend to require high quality cycling infrastructure yet quality is defined in terms of minimal physical design standards and lacks a vision for how physical design relates to improving the cycling experience. Some practitioners choose to define cycle highways primarily through a political lens in relation to jurisdiction and funding. UK1 emphasized the importance of allocating cyclists own space on the street and distinctive branding yet jurisdiction boundaries can limit the types of infrastructure that can be built. UK1 gives the example that transport for London only has jurisdiction over major arterial roads so London's cycle superhighway infrastructure is built on heavy traffic corridors. Given this limitation London's cycle superhighways focus on creating an easy to follow route from the suburbs to central London. In the context of Copenhagen cycle highways must go through many municipalities with different objectives and political agendas so compromises are made in the quality of routing and design elements where political boundaries are crossed. In practical terms, quote, it means that some municipalities are not very ambitious. They must do what they need to do in order to get it approved. End quote, DK1. Thus, cycle highways are also distinguished from other cycling infrastructure through their strategic relevance on a regional and national level. In many cases requiring cooperation from many municipalities in order to realize a continuous cycle highway route. In addition to physical design and political context, a third logic is revealed through the language used to describe geographic connections and relative efficiencies over a large scale. These descriptions place cycle highways in relation to a traffic network and urban planning goals. Interviewees conceptualize cycle highways as providing the fastest, most direct, and most efficient route between two places over relatively longer commuting distances. Directly connecting suburbs to urban centers. Quote, to bring them cyclists from A to B without lots of interference with other traffic and giving them their own space is crucial. But that's the dream. In reality, we do not have to always achieve the high level that we want. End quote, BE2. Another goal of the cycle highway is to encourage people to switch from cars to cycling, especially for commuting trips, where convenience is a key factor in accomplishing this goal. The German RS1 case reveals that the literal translation of the term Radsch-Snowwech, or Bicycle Highway, is taken seriously in the marketing of the route. The RS1 logo is one of a bicycle imposed on a recognizable blue sign used to represent the German Autobahn network. UK2 also relates cycle highways to the design of motorized. Quote, I would say that it's a dedicated cycle facility, one that is pretty fast and direct. If I were thinking what a highway is and then applying it to cycling, that's what I would come up with. End quote. These definitions of cycle highways by practitioners illustrate that the existing logic of cycle highways seek to implement an engineering-based criteria of cycle highway design that is limited by funding, ambitions, and cooperation among bordering political entities. It is clear that conceptualizations of cycling experiences are missing from these initial definitions given by practitioners, even though interviewees have an intuitive sense that the experiential elements play a crucial role in improving the attractiveness of cycling trips. 3.2. User differentiation by motives, demographics, and vehicle types. After defining cycle highways, practitioners were then asked about their conceptualization of relationships between the various users of cycle highways and to their cycling experiences. In general, practitioners prioritize commuter cyclists' needs and design cycle highways with home-to-work journeys in mind. Quote, The question is, for what do we design it for? Do we do it for commuters, etc., and they want to spend the least amount of time on mobility and transportation, so that means they want to get to A to B in the shortest amount of time. End quote. There are other cyclists' needs, but the primary target group of cycle highways is commuters who want to minimize their travel time. If you are doing it via greenways, etc., it might be the case that it takes much longer and it is okay if it is just about leisure activities on the weekend, but I think most people just want to get to their destination quite quickly. G.R.2. Cycle highways should also be inclusive for all users of all ages and abilities. B.E.2 says, Quote, When we design our cycle highways, we try to design for them for an eight-year-old so that they can cycle independently from A to B. End quote. But problems may also arise from the mix of users on the cycle highways and how they interact with each other. Quote, We have a problem from certain cyclists, the more soft kindergarten children, elderly, and when we use the word fast, as a term to describe cycle highways, then you refer to what people see when they think about the highway and they think speed. It's a real discussion. Some people are afraid because of the high speeds. End quote. B.E.1's response considers how the faster speeds of speed pedalex or fast e-bikes and fast sport cyclists creates a potential conflict with the needs of more leisurely commuters. Quote, There are people who like to bike more at ease and they say, I don't want to hurry. These people also want to use the cycle highways. Cycle highways are also for them. End quote. B.E.2 then mentions the problem of understanding and accommodating cycling experiences of different people. Quote, We have some colleagues who are older. They like something else compared to the younger ones. Men, women, and children may also like different things. So you try to make something different, one fits all, or at least appreciated by the different target user groups. End quote. Like in more famous cycling contacts, Copenhagen and Amsterdam, urban tourists on bikes are a category that is being recognized in London as well. Quote, There is now at least three, probably four companies who do cycle tours around central London. And they all use the super highways more or less to get around the tourist sites. And obviously with the London cycle hire, you see a lot more people cycling along the cycle super highways. Whereas before they would have kept themselves to parks instead of the road. End quote. UK one. Hence UK one sees different users for each part of the cycle highway network. Quote, We want to get commuters from the outside to the central limit and then get them out of the cars. I would say that the central part is that we're much more than designed with recreation use in mind. We don't just design something for the morning rush hour and the evening rush hour. End quote. While it is clear that cycle highways are primarily designed for commuters, practitioners are well aware of the different experiences as perceived through different people. In addition to commuters, users are differentiated by their trip purpose, sport cyclists, leisure, recreational cyclists, commuters, etc. Their vehicle, e-bike, normal bike, etc. And age, children, elderly, etc. And gender. Although the primary target audience of commuters is clear, cycle highways should also be designed with different users in mind. 3.3 elements of experience. Safety is the most frequently mentioned topic in relation to cycling experience. And traffic safety is a main concern for practitioners in Germany and the United Kingdom where cycling rates are lowest. They perceive trade off between traffic safety and expediency, especially when handling cyclists at intersections. UK2 states, quote, I think that in the quiet ways, as opposed to the super highways, there is perhaps a perception that cyclists emphasize safety. So the idea is that when you get to an intersection, you may not have an advantage over traffic, but you will be able to cross safely. End quote. UK2 emphasizes social safety in addition to traffic safety, saying, quote, In isolated areas like parks or down under, under railways or through subways, we seek to enhance or improve security conditions. I suppose the word is social safety under the healthy streets approach. Now that's that's even more important. End quote. It is also a variety of experiences along a route that seems to be important. There may not be an ideal cycling environment, but a combination of environments with transitions to give variety to the cycling journey, which may be more ideal. GR2 states, quote, You are just passing through green belts, and then you have the rural experience of just being in the countryside. It's a mixture of both urban areas and rural parts. So that's what makes it quite attractive because you have both experiences on the cycle highway. End quote. Design considerations change when designing for long distance versus short distance journeys. And DK1 emphasizes both the social and sensory aspects of cycling and how these relate to a sense of time. Quote. Longer distance, especially commuting. And in that sense, if time is important for you, but also the experience as a cyclist, you were just like dealing with pedestrians. You like to have something to look at. You like to have other people around you. So I think to the extent that it's possible, you should definitely try to have cycle highways away from car traffic with noise. And in places where it's either really beautiful or there's other people around that you can look at, it'll make time fly by. And also that's what you can do on a bike. You interact with your surroundings. End quote. Practitioners from Flemish, Belgium reflects the similarity of their cycling culture compared to the Netherlands in that cycling is seen as a social experience, highlighting the importance of being able to cycle side by side, especially over longer distances on cycle highways. GR1 gives a vivid account of the cycling journey experience from a spatial perspective alluding to many of Kevin Lynch's ideas of navigation and experiencing the city. GR1 describes quote, for example, when you go on the cycle highway, you see the biggest inner city tower or something that you want to reach. Like when I go, I live in Heidelberg. It's 20 kilometers from Mannheim. When going cycling to the office, I always see the television tower of Mannheim. So you see it getting closer and closer and you think, I'll get there. It's not hard stuff, but like the soft topics should not be ignored. And there should be no feeling of like, how much longer will it take? You should say, ah, how fast that my ride is over now. So when you reach your office, it should be like, ah, I want to continue cycling. The weather was so nice, etc. End quote. UK2 mentions wayfinding as an important aspect of experience. Quote, I think that having that certainty of where you're going, like where you're going or what's close to you, it's a big deal. There's nothing like going out on a bike and like kind of embarking on a journey through a network and then you get lost and your confidence will just drop and you need to use your phone. End quote. DK2 remarks, cyclists should feel like they are part of the traffic picture. Quote, people should have a good time when using the cycle highways and feel like they're contributing by taking the cycling bicycle instead of the car. End quote. Overall, visual aspects of the experience are mentioned, including greenery, nature, and landscape. Landmarks are an interesting case that represents both an element of aesthetic pleasantry as well as wayfinding reference points. Participants also made the distinction between urban and rural environments and mentioned the importance of these transitions and variations as important to creating an interesting cycling experience. Non-visual experience, including noise, weather, and comfort in relation to the quality of the infrastructure. In terms of comfort, surfacing is an aspect that was deemed an important factor. With overall quality determined by materials, construction quality, and maintenance. There are also differing views on cycling together with other people. Some pictured a solitary cyclist on the highway in the countryside where others talked about the pleasure of being able to interact with others. Others mentioned the ideal cycling experience as one that provides opportunities for serendipity or being able to ride hands free. And perhaps a good design is one that enables these experiences as well. 3.4 Design considerations With quality standards and intersections are the main concepts mentioned in relation to design. Practitioners say they refer to design standards to guide their work, but many cite difficulties when the ideal physical requirements of cycle highway design conflict with other uses of space in urban settings. For example, GR2 refers to the design standard for cycle highways in Germany, which is ideally a 4 meter bi-direction cycle path with a 2 meter path for pedestrians. However, participants recognize that segregated cycling infrastructure is not possible in streets where space is limited in the central city. So mixing or separation of bicycle traffic from motorized traffic seems to be a recurring design consideration in urban environments. Even though high quality is frequently mentioned in describing the design of cycle highways, it is unclear exactly what high quality entails. 4. High Quality We don't say what this high quality means in the definition. It's more a functional definition, but it means that you have a higher quality than just normal cycle infrastructure. The problem with qualities you could save, we need, for instance, 4 meters wide and not too much pedestrians. Or if there is a lot of pedestrians, you have space for the pedestrians like they are as one in Germany. In practice, you could also sometimes just have a quiet road where you have a little bit mixed with cars. End quote, BE3. Where cycling infrastructure is relatively new, for example in the context of London, cycle highway designers have started recognizing cyclists as road users with their own needs, distinct from the needs of pedestrians or automobiles. UK1 states, quote, Instead of being either treated as pedestrians, you put them on the footway, or them being treated as traffic and put them with a general traffic. You design specifically for cyclists at the start of your scheme instead of trying to put a cycle facility almost as an afterthought to your designs. Yeah, I would say that's probably the biggest challenge is that cyclists are now thought of right at the start of a project instead of as a, oh yeah, we just need to do something. Let's put a little bit of wide lane in or a bit of paint for them. End quote, UK1. Some practitioners also emphasize the perspective of cyclists in the design process. BE2 explains that cycling infrastructure is best understood by those who have experience using them. Quote, in cycle infrastructure, it is the Flemish road agency that designs a lot of cycle paths, but they're engineers who don't cycle, and then you see the difference. End quote, BE2. DK2 uses the example of traffic lights to illustrate a counter intuitive example that highlights the behavior of people in response to unreasonable infrastructure. DK2 says, quote, the worst thing is always, of course, is when you have a good speed on the bicycle, then you have to stop for a red light. End quote, DK2 continues, quote, we must be aware that if they feel annoyed by stopping, they will actually try to break the red lights, and that could lead to a situation where they actually have some accidents, which you could perhaps have avoided because they got impatient. End quote. So it seems that not losing momentum, especially on a human powered vehicle, is an important aspect of the cycling experience. And designing around this experience can also help cyclists negotiate traffic safely. Cycling experience also depends not only on design, but on the behavior of others. BE2 remarks, quote, we have to be respectful to each other. It's a soft mode of transport. End quote. Practitioners agree that the design of cycle highways cannot be wholly copied from automobile infrastructure. Quote, it's not my main aim to make a copy of highways now to cycle highways because it's different. Cyclists are not motorists. They have other needs. You can't just copy paste. It's not possible. It's not a good idea. End quote. BE2. Yet BE3 suggests the aesthetic considerations of scenic parkways in the United States can serve as an inspiration for some aspects of cycle highway design. Quote, even motorways are sometimes designed from the point of view of pleasure in a way. You could find some interesting examples where you add a slight bend where you look at the landscape and scenery. I think in the United States sometimes they have beautiful examples. End quote. This sentiment resonates with ideas from Apple Yard Lynch and Myers, the view from the road on how to design landscapes and environments to be enjoyed on the move. However, BE3 cautions quote, of course, you have to be careful with comparing with motorways. But I think for cycling, that's really an important point. One of the motivations to cycle is also the pleasure of cycling and doing something really healthy and working on your condition and enjoying the environment and nature and the weather etc. And if we want people to commute more, we want to we have to think about their motivation to commute. End quote. Traffic logic is also implied in wayfinding signage, directing cyclists to the fastest route, not necessarily the most scenic route. Quote. Cycle highways are directed at commuters who go to work and serves a wayfinding function to signal the most direct route to follow. End quote. DK2. DK1 mentions the importance of providing alternatives to fit cyclist's desires for directness and experience, especially through built up areas. Quote. We have these routes that run along the old railway line and it actually goes right through Copenhagen. But it will never be the fastest route because it curves a lot. But it's just more fun to take it. The infrastructure's good, but you have to go through parks and squares and there's something happening along the entire route. So I think that would be the case that if you really wanted to go a direct route, you would take one of the main roads along with people's and cars. Or if you want to experience something, you could take the other route. It's just a trade-off. What can actually be done here is because there's already a city. End quote. The conceptualization of design varied in scales of analysis from detailed designs such as the smoothness of payment to psychopath width to a more network level characteristics, such as route connectivity and directness. Experiential elements such as enjoyability, convenience, safety and attractiveness are often mentioned in relation to physical design along with concrete ideas such as speed, traffic separation, curves, traffic volume and other measurable variables. Although designing for a good cycling experiences is not prescribed by design standards, practitioners try to incorporate their own intuition of good design with a goal of making journeys more pleasant for cyclists. Four. Discussion. 4.1. Defining cycle highways. Practitioners gave two types of cycle highway definitions with one relating to goals and another relating to execution. Policies set out visions and goals that cycle highways should fulfill while design manuals attempt to translate these visions and goals into physical designs. Bridging policy and design manuals are funding requirements that define what types of infrastructures qualified for regional and national funding schemes. A definition in terms of goals refers to matters of policy such as sustainability, traffic congestion and the desirability of fast, efficient and equitable transport system. A second type of definition focuses on the design of cycling infrastructure to meet these goals such as speed, directness, width, quality standards and signage. The two types of definitions can be linked by examining how good design can serve policy goals. Practitioners believe good design of cycle highways can induce commuters to cycle instead of traveling by car for commuting and the main mechanism for this mode shift is better comfort and travel and cost savings. The logic of using cycle highways to induce mode shift is tested by the research of Sculfe Peterson et al. on a Copenhagen case study. Yet they found that most of the increased cycling along the new cycle highways is the result of cyclists switching from alternative routes with, quote, only a modest mode share four to six percent of the bicyclists on the renewed routes switching to cycling from other modes, end quote. At the same time, their surveys showed improved cycling experience along the new route in terms of surface quality, lighting conditions, traffic safety and personal safety. These research findings suggest that cycle highways may not be meeting their desired policy goals for shifting commuter traffic towards cycling, but higher quality cycling infrastructure still imparts benefits for existing cycling commuters and recreational cyclists. Thus, defining cycle highways in relation to the policy goal of achieving mode shift may not fully capture the intrinsic benefits of higher quality design that makes cycling more comfortable as a mode of travel for existing users. 4.2 non commuting uses of cycle highways. Cycle highways are a challenge for practitioners because it is unclear how related concepts such as high quality, functional and attractive, should be interpreted and how these criteria can be translated into physical design. On a policy level, cycle highways are conceptualized as functional infrastructures to reduce automobile congestion by encouraging commuting by bicycle. Yet, even with measures to improve directness and flow, the slower speed of cycling over longer distances cannot compete directly with motorized modes in terms of minimizing travel time. 5. Attention to the quality of the surrounding environment can make cycle highways more attractive not just on the basis of time savings but also for creating a pleasant experience for cyclists. Practitioners are aware that the same cycle highways built to attract commuters also draw other uses such as recreation, sport and tourism. For urban designers, these uses are considered optional activities that highlight the intrinsic attractiveness of cycling in relation to the environment, and a high level of optional activities are indicative of good quality physical environments. In reference to pedestrians, Jan Gale describes optional activities as quote, taking a walk to get a breath of fresh air, standing around enjoying life or sitting and sunbathing. These activities take place only when exterior conditions are favorable, when weather and place invite them. For cycling, a high proportion of non-commuting activity is an indication of good spatial quality, which also benefit commuter cyclists through intrinsic benefits such as better familiarity with one's surrounding, connection with other people, freedom and cognitive stimulation. It is unlikely that commuter cyclists enjoy the positive intrinsic benefits of those gained by non-commuting cyclists, plus the quantified health cost and travel time benefits of cycling. 4.3. User experience from a cyclist's perspective Practitioners recognize the importance of designing for a good cycling experience. When asked about what makes for an ideal cycling experience, interviewees engage in broader concepts such as greenery, noise, weather, landscape and moving scenery. Practitioners benefit from being able to view a design in relation to the potential experiences from people that their infrastructures seek to serve, and we found that practitioners draw extensively on their own experiences to talk about cycle highway design. A recent Dutch study by Choudappel Koffing found that large differences between respondents that there is no average cycling experiences, and that it is more informative to understand cycle routes from the perspective of different cyclists. They identified five different user types and found that many people cycle for both commuting and leisure, so there is not always a clear relationship between individual trip purpose and the characteristic of the cyclist. A diversity of speeds on the cycle path also leads to a social problem of interaction between various users of the space. It seems that the challenge with cycle highways in the model of Hamilton Bailey is the quest to provide a uniform regulated and predictable environment for faster cyclists while also providing enough variety to satisfy the desire for diverse personal and serendipitous environments for more relaxed leisure cycling. Public transport research shows that the subjective feeling of waiting for a bus feels twice as long as being underway, and waiting time can be subjectively reduced by giving passengers an indication of expected arrival time. The same logic can be applied to traffic lights or the design of wayfinding elements. Wayfinding is generally focused on quality signage and readability at higher speeds, but practitioners also conceptualize wayfinding in terms of reference points and notable changes in physical environments. Lynch discusses a multi-sensorial, albeit primarily visual approach to wayfinding, and ethnographic research by Van Dupen and Speerings show that journey experienced on a bike is also composed of transitory experiences, such as smell, traffic, sounds, and weather. As cyclists experience each journey differently, these observations highlight the opportunity for multi-sensory and inclusive approach to cycle highway design. 4.4. Flexibility in design. Practitioners tend to conceptualize and high quality standards in terms of wide paths, direct connections, quality of paving, and wayfinding. Yet it is unclear to what degree positive experiences arise from well designed infrastructure and traffic regulation devices versus aesthetic elements and social activity along a cycle highway. Some cycle highway designs include pedestrian paths and other do not. Some cycle highways include sections of shared streets with automobiles while other routes are completely separated from motor traffic. Cycle highways in the Netherlands permit heavy vehicles such as MOB heads traveling up to 45 kilometers an hour while cycle highways in Germany only permit lighter e-bikes with a maximum of 25 kilometers an hour. These opportunities to take advantage of the mix of typologies is seen on existing cycle highways such as the Rijnwal pad in the Netherlands and in plans for future cycle highways such as illustrated in a feasibility study for Mannheim to Heidelberg connection. We know that design concepts carry different meanings when applied to automobile landscapes versus pedestrian environments and the term cycle highway is taken more literally in some contexts than others. For example, the German RS1 stands in clear relationship to automobile highways through both the design of its logo as well as an image of a bicycle in the middle of an empty motorway. As an alternative to highway the Dutch also use the term fast cycle routes to describe their system of long distance bicycle infrastructure in order to move the discourse away from association with automobile highways but as revealed in the interviews even the word fast is a point of contention. See figures one and two below. In terms of design logic highway practitioners struggle with how the uniform predictable and regulated engineering of highway environments can be balanced with the diverse vibrant and human scale design of pedestrian environments. However, all participants recognize to various degrees that the idea of a highway means something different for bicycles than for automobiles quote. There needs to be a middle ground but I do feel that in the current debate we sometimes tend to move too much in the engineering part end quote says NL2 recounting the construction of the Ryan Valpad between Arnhem and Nijmegen in the Netherlands quote. It's something we at this point discuss it from a traffic engineering point of view but during the process we quickly discovered that this wasn't enough end quote. As meeting minimum cycle highway standards is necessary for many projects to receive subsidies from the national and regional government these funding criteria standards determine the basic physical form of cycle highways in terms of width intersection frequency lighting and grading in different various streets and spatial typologies. While these design requirements form the building blocks for the cycle highway typology practitioners are still left with flexibility in terms of route choice and designing cycle highways to fit their surrounding context. 4.5 limitations and future research. There are four limitations to this study that provide opportunities for future research. First, as there is a growing awareness of the cycle highway concept outside of Europe the views of European practitioners may not translate directly to other contexts. It would be interesting to explore how the cycle highway context it would be interesting to explore how the cycle highway concept can be adapted to context with different planning agenda and a wide variety of land use patterns and to work towards a framework for evaluation. 2. Cycle highways have not been researched in relation to the perspective of cyclists themselves. It is clear that practitioners draw extensively from their personal experiences of cycling but the exact meaning of experiences should be properly explored and defined from the perspective of various user groups in the context of cycle highways. From Jensen's staging mobility perspective this paper explores staging from above in how planning design regulations and institutions shape bicycle highways from the perspective of practitioners. In addition, a nuanced understanding of experiences should be obtained from users themselves and how cycle highways are staged from below by the activity of its users. 3. Written knowledge in the form of design manuals and policy documents have not been extensively reviewed in this paper. Practitioners derive their knowledge and framework of discussion from policy documents and design guidelines so research focusing on these documents extensively would add depth to understanding how the process of designing cycle highways and other cycling infrastructure takes place. 4. Practitioners have repeatedly mentioned that cycle highways can facilitate the use of e-bikes and studies do show that e-bike users perform more trips and cycle longer distances than conventional cyclists. The discussion of user experience and behavior becomes increasingly important as we see an increasing heterogeneity of speeds and vehicle types such as e-bikes, scooters, and other personal electric vehicles sharing cycling infrastructure with human powered transport. 5. Acknowledgments This work is part of the research program Smart Cycling Futures with project number 43815160 which is partly financed by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, NWO. We would like to thank the University of Amsterdam Planning and Urban Mobility and Accessibility Puma Research Group and the Eindhoven University of Technology Sustainable Urban Mobilities Research Group for sharing their experiences and moments of inspiration that have shaped this paper. We are grateful for the generosity of our interviewees for sharing their expertise with us.