{"id":673164,"date":"2026-05-16T09:42:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T09:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/673164\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T09:42:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T09:42:09","slug":"helsinkis-costly-cycling-push-draws-crowds-and-criticism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/673164\/","title":{"rendered":"Helsinki’s costly cycling push draws crowds – and criticism"},"content":{"rendered":"

Helsinki, Finland
Reuters<\/a><\/p>\n

Finland\u2019s capital Helsinki has spent billions of euros on public transport and bicycle lanes \u2013 and plans more \u2013 despite mixed reactions from residents.<\/p>\n

In April, about 50,000 people turned out for the opening of a scenic 1.2 kilometre bridge \u2013 Finland\u2019s longest \u2013 linking the inner city to nearby islands and reserved for pedestrians, cyclists and trams.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Team Leader of Bicycle Traffic, Oskari Kaupinmaki, rides his bike in Helsinki, Finland, on 5th May, 2026. PICTURE: Reuters\/Leonhard Foeger<\/p>\n

But others have been unimpressed by the lack of car lanes and the \u20ac326 million price tag, which also covered two adjacent bridges and tramway investments, on top of billions already spent over the past decade on transport and cycling infrastructure.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike with all urban development projects, you always have people opposing it and people in favour of it\u2026The biggest argument for opposing this bridge was the big price tag on it,\u201d Helsinki\u2019s bicycle traffic team leader Oskari Kaupinmaki told Reuters.<\/p>\n

Helsinki has around 1,300 km of cycle paths, including 100 km of \u201cbicycle superhighway network\u201d, which the city plans to expand by another 80 kilometres by 2029, Kaupinmaki said.<\/p>\n

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So far, however, the investments have not boosted cycling in the Nordic capital on the Baltic coast, where winters are harsh and winds often biting. Cycling\u2019s share of transport has stayed flat at roughly nine to 11 per cent since 2010, Kaupinmaki said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason for that is that we haven\u2019t completed the network yet,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Other projects include a major tram network expansion and a plan approved last week to close one of the central streets in front of the main railway station to cars, prioritising pedestrians, cyclists and public transport.<\/p>\n

City councillor Marcus Rantala, a leading opponent of the bridge, said he had \u201ccriticised the project\u2019s price tag and the realism of the budget,\u201d which kept growing over the years, but conceded he was pleased with the \u201cimpressive\u201d result.<\/p>\n

So was Johanna Jarvinen, a musician and a cyclist, who lives on an island that the new bridges now connect to the inner city.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the summer, when it\u2019s less windy, it\u2019ll be like 10 minutes off my commute, so [that\u2019s] very nice,\u201d she told Reuters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Helsinki, FinlandReuters Finland\u2019s capital Helsinki has spent billions of euros on public transport and bicycle lanes \u2013 and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":673165,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[247674,49,48,635,7311,181474,82],"class_list":["post-673164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-bicycle-superhighway-network","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-finland","tag-helsinki","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=673164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/673165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=673164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=673164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=673164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}