CHIPS Launch Event

The CHIPS project has officially been launched together with the European Cycling Strategy at the Cycling into the Future event on the 14th of September in Brussels.

The CHIPS project will by defining a joint European guideline on cycle highways acyively contribute to the chapter on Infrastructure in the European Cycling Strategy.

Doubling cycling in the EU in the next ten years calls for the development of a European cycling strategy. To obtain political support at the highest level, the European Cyclists’ Federation together with the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Slovakia to the EU and the European CHIPS project kicked off the process with an expert meeting on infrastructure and more specifically cycle highways.

In combination with the growing number of e-bikes, cycle highway innovation can effectively get commuters out of their cars for commuter distances of 15km and more. “‘Encouraging more people to cycle more often’ across the EU has the potential to unlock socio-economic benefits worth billions of Euros. We call for political commitment to develop an EU Cycling Strategy and we are delighted to see the high-level response in the first of many meeting to that direction focused on infrastructure”, said Adam Bodor, ECF Director of Advocacy.

The meeting was attended by high-level guests such as Bernd Bievert, Deputy Head of Cabinet of the Commission Vice-President Šefčovič, Martin Eder from the Austrian Ministry of Environment representing the PEP Partnership on Cycling Promotion and the Pan-European Masterplan for Cycling and Olivier Heiden, Administrator of the COTER Commission in the Committee of the Regions, reported on the added value of an EU Cycling Strategy at an international level.

Topics discussed included the need for a common methodology on cycle highways across Europe, similar to infrastructure designed for motorized road transport, and the potential development of an EU minimum quality criteria for cycling infrastructure across member states.