Winter cycling is often thought of as something of an extreme sport. Images of tough people in full gear, riding in snow and slush, easily come to mind. It is surely not something for the faint-hearted? This view of winter cycling has been repeatedly proven wrong by Oulu, a city in the north of Finland, which has come to be known as the winter cycling capital of the world. In Oulu you are much more likely to see a child or a grandma cycling calmly in the winter, than anyone resembling an extreme athlete. In fact, 60 % of school trips are done by bicycle in the winter. In Oulu 11-12 % of all trips in winter are made by bicycle, which rivals the numbers for many Finnish cities in the summer (Molina, 2023; Jokela, 2023)
What is the secret to building a winter cycling culture?
How does Oulu manage to stay so active in the winter? It would be easy to write off this as a cultural issue. Maybe the people of Oulu are simply tougher, or more comfortable with the cold than the rest of us?
This cultural argument, however, quickly breaks down when you realize that even other cities on the similar latitudes in northern Finland, with similar climates and cultures, where winter cycling is nowhere near as popular as it is in Oulu. Even residents of cities in southern Finland with significantly warmer weather don’t cycle as much in the winter as the residents of Oulu do. This breaks down the cold weather argument.
The main factors affecting the willingness of people to cycle through the winter are infrastructure and winter maintenance. Still, neither of these factors alone are enough to encourage winter cycling. Good infrastructure, covered in an uneven and slippery ice surface or slush in the winter, is no good for winter cycling. A badly designed piece of cycling infrastructure doesn’t either encourage winter cycling even if maintained well.
Design and maintenance of winter cycling infrastructure
The most important factor to considering when designing cycling infrastructure for year around use in cold climates is segregation of bicycle and car traffic. Painted bicycle lanes will get covered with snow or ice in the winter, obscuring the road markings, which makes the lanes dangerous and difficult to follow. Bikeways should be raised from the street level to avoid splashing of snow and slush from the car traffic onto the bike lane. The splashed slush will freeze and make the surface of the bike lane bumpy. Bicycles are much more sensitive to slippery and uneven surfaces, since the narrow tires have a small contact surface with the road surface. Since bicycles can’t safely ride on the road in winter conditions, due to their narrow tires, having a well maintained cycle network is essential.
Design of the Oulu bikeway network
The bicycle path network in Oulu is largely detached from the road network. Much of it passes through parks and forest. Building a detached cycling network has been a goal in city planning ever since the 1970s, when most European cities were still being designed mainly with ease of driving in mind. A detached cycling network is much safer and more comfortable especially in the winter. It also avoids snow from the road from blocking the bikeway, and eliminates the danger of having to navigate among cars in slippery conditions. Additionally, Oulu has an exceptionally large number of underpasses, at a total of over 300, which help minimize the contact between cyclists and pedestrians with cars. (Jokela, 2022)
Winter maintenance of the Oulu bikeway network
The winter maintenance of the 150 km long arterial bikeway network is prioritized highly. The cycle main bikeways are maintained by contractors specializing in bikeway maintenance, which avoid conflicts of interest between maintenance of the road network and the cycling network. The other municipalities in the district also cooperate, forming a large well maintained network that crosses municipal boundaries. (Jokela, 2022)
The goal of the winter maintenance in Oulu is not to remove all snow, but rather to maintain a smooth, non-slippery surface of compacted snow on the bikeways. This surface is easy to ride on an is much easier to maintain than a snowless surface. The use of salt on the bikeways is avoided, since it contributes to the formation of slush. Rather the excess snow is removed by mechanical means. (Jokela, 2022)
The bicycle and pedestrian paths are classified into three categories for winter maintenance: Super, class I, and class II. The info-boxes below show the basic winter maintenance schedule. (ouka.fi, 2024)
Super
– Main arterial bikeways
– Plowed within 3 hours of 2 cm of snowfall
– Slush is removed after it reaches 2 cm
– Slippery bikeways are addressed within 3 hours
Class I
– Less critical cycling routes and pedestrian paths
– Plowed within 4 hours of 3 cm of snowfall
– Nightly snowfall is plowed latest at 7am
– Slush is removed after it reaches 2 cm
– Slippery paths are sanded or salted within 3 hours
Class II
– Includes the least critical paths
– Plowed within 6 hours of 5 cm of snowfall
– Slush is removed after it reaches 4 cm
– Slippery paths are sanded or salted within 4 hours
For a general overview of the cycling culture in Finland, read this article.
For an overview of the recent cycling infrastructure projects in Helsinki, read this article.
Published on December 8th 2024
Written by the Cycling Philosopher
Literature
Molina, S. (2023), Why Arctic Conditions Don’t Stop Cycling in Oulu, Finland, theurbanactivist.com, referenced 8.12.2024
Jokela, M. (2022), Oulun pyörätiet pidetään kunnossa – myös talvisin, moottori.fi, referenced 8.12.2024
Ouka.fi, Auraus ja liukkauden torjunta, ouka.fi, referenced 8.12.2024
Image sources
Estromiz (2011), Astrom Park Oulu 20110103.JPG, wikimedia.org, CC0
Kallerna (2023), Loskaa 1.jpg, wikimedia.org, CC BY-SA 4.0
Estromiz (2014), Tarkka-ampujanpuisto Oulu 20141222.JPG, wikimedia.org, CC0
