Keep on going to Nijmegen (Day 16 Netherlands)
We headed out of the EuroParc to meet in the immediately adjacent tiny town of Linden with Sjors van Duren. He works for Royal Haskoning DHV on a regional network of bikeways between towns. This network has had many campaign names. It's been called a bike super highway, a bike highway, and finally, simply, Keep On Going. Sjors took us on a bike path tour, explaining the communication side of planning--aka the politics. Something Connie had mentioned too in Odense, though different set of things in this context of multiple municipalities. Many of the topics discussed boiled down to communication and power. For example, we crossed a terrible highway crossing. It's not great for people walking, biking, or even driving to try to cross this road. It's particularly bad for walking or biking as it's an important thruway for freight trucks. As in the US, freight/shipping groups have a lot of influence--aka power. The planners couldn't afford to build a bridge or...