From car-first reconstruction to cycling city: lessons from Rotterdam

An historic port city that rose again from the rubble of Second World War destruction, Rotterdam is not quite the cycling paradise of Amsterdam, but it is certainly making steps towards it. I visited with cycling@teatime, the study group hosted by the University of Westminster, in July.

Having visited Amsterdam before, the contrast was immediately clear. Amsterdam’s canals, narrow streets and historic buildings are part of the familiar picture of Dutch cycling. Rotterdam feels very different.

After much of its centre was destroyed during the war, the city was rebuilt around the car-first planning ideas then common across Europe. The result was a spacious city of broad boulevards, tall buildings and roads designed for fast-moving traffic.

Rotterdam has since done a great deal to turn that around. According to the European Cyclists’ Federation, the number of people cycling on its main routes increased by 45% between 2010 and 2020, while cycling grew to account for around 28% of journeys.

It may not look like the typical Dutch cycling city, but its network would still be exceptional compared with almost any British town or city.

From Zwijndrecht to Rotterdam

Our day began with a train from Rotterdam Centraal to Zwijndrecht, south-east of the city. We then cycled back through villages, alongside waterways and towards Rotterdam. My hired Gazelle was a stereotypically upright Dutch bike, and it glided along in the baking heat.

We spent a fair amount of time on semi-rural roads without protected cycle lanes. The drivers were not aggressive, but neither were they all flawlessly patient, cycle-loving saints.

That showed me something important. Dutch cycling is not safer simply because every driver behaves perfectly. The real difference is the huge network of separated and carefully designed infrastructure.

Where good infrastructure keeps people cycling away from faster and heavier traffic, safety does not depend on every driver making the right decision. That is an important lesson for Britain. Calls for greater tolerance and mutual respect incredibly important, but goodwill cannot replace streets designed to promote safety in the first place.

Later, we came across a sign banning cycling on the road beside us. In Britain, this type of ban is very uncommon, so it initially struck me as counterintuitive and somewhat jarring.

However, a wide, smooth cycle path continued through the woods in exactly the same direction. People hadn’t simply been banned from the road. They had been given a far better alternative and were expected to use it.

This reminded me of the debate in Britain during the 1930s, when the CTC opposed plans for cycle tracks because it feared they would eventually be used to force cyclists off the road. Carlton Reid explains the history of this ‘right to ride’ campaign and the concerns that shaped the organisation’s position.

Reclaiming Rotterdam’s streets

After lunch, we met Wiel Wijnen from the Dutch Cycling Embassy for a tour of the city. One of our first stops was Hofplein, a large space near the central station that has long been dominated by traffic. It is now being transformed into a greener public square, with fewer cars, 150 new trees and more room for walking and cycling.

Nearby, Coolsingel shows what this kind of transformation can achieve. Rotterdam’s main boulevard was once an urban highway. Its redesign reduced the space given to motor traffic and created a broad pedestrian promenade, a dedicated tramway and a wide two-way cycle track.

The Dutch Cycling Embassy reports that the redesigned boulevard now carries around 10,000 fewer cars each day and includes a 4.5m-wide cycle track.

These projects are about much more than squeezing cycle lanes around the edges of an unchanged road system. Rotterdam is asking a bigger question: what should its main streets be for? It is then redistributing space between cars, public transport, cycling, walking and public life.

That ambition feels especially relevant to Britain, where cycle schemes are often treated as small additions to roads whose overall design and purpose remain much the same.

Cars as guests

We also visited Rotterdam’s first fietsstraat, or cycle street. On a fietsstraat, cycles are the main form of transport and motor vehicles are allowed to use the street as guests. Low speeds, distinctive surfacing and the design of the road all make it clear that drivers should adapt to people cycling, rather than the other way around.

The Dutch Cycling Embassy’s self-guided tour of Rotterdam provides more information about the city’s cycle streets and other infrastructure (if this blog excites you sufficiently to get you booking a flight to see it all yourself!).

Wiel explained that fietsstraten have now been introduced across the Netherlands and have proved massively successful. They allow important cycle routes to continue along streets where full physical separation may not be needed, as long as motor traffic is limited and travelling slowly.

The idea is beginning to appear in Britain too. In May 2026, Adams Road in Cambridge opened as England’s first official cycle street. The street is used by around 3,000 people cycling each day and forms part of the wider Comberton Greenway.

Seeing a fietsstraat in Rotterdam showed that a good cycle route doesn’t always need a fully separated track. On quieter streets, changing who has priority can create a direct and comfortable route while keeping access for motor vehicles.

However, simply calling somewhere a cycle street is not enough. Cars can only really be described as guests when the design, traffic levels and speeds make that true.

Crossing and travelling beneath the river

We crossed the Erasmusbrug, whose distinctive white pylon has earned it the nickname De Zwaan, or the Swan. Opened in 1996, the bridge carries cars, trams and people walking and cycling, and connects the city centre with Rotterdam Zuid.

These links matter because Rotterdam is divided by a major working river. Without good ways to cross it, the cycling network would be a collection of separate local routes rather than something that works across the whole city.

The most memorable part of the afternoon was the Maastunnel. Construction began in 1937 and the tunnel officially opened in 1942. Alongside its two road tunnels, it has separate routes for people walking and cycling beneath the Nieuwe Maas.

Getting down to the cycle tunnel means taking your bike onto an enormous wooden escalator. Rotterdam residents stepped on and off in one smooth movement. My first attempt was rather less elegant. Lifts are also available for people using heavier or non-standard cycles.

It is striking that a tunnel of this age includes dedicated space for cycling. It shows how long cycling has been treated as a serious means of transport in the Netherlands.

More than cycle lanes

Perhaps the biggest lesson from Rotterdam was that a cycling network needs many different kinds of infrastructure. During a single day, we used rural paths, protected urban tracks, quiet streets, cycle-priority roads, bridges, tunnels and routes linked to railway stations.

The city also provides public cycle-parking facilities across Rotterdam. Through its Fietsbank, residents on lower incomes can also receive a free secondhand bicycle. Good infrastructure is essential, but people also need access to a bike and somewhere safe and convenient to leave it.

Rotterdam still has its challenges. Some roads remain busy and intimidating, the quality of the network varies, and major construction projects inevitably bring disruption. Dutch cycle paths are also becoming busier as conventional bikes, electric bikes, cargo bikes and other vehicles travel along them at different speeds.

Even so, Rotterdam shows that a city built heavily around cars does not have to remain that way.

What British cities can learn

Rotterdam may never have Amsterdam’s picture postcard image. That is exactly why it may have more to teach British towns and cities.

Its progress has not depended on recreating a historic city of canals and narrow streets. It has involved adapting wide roads, large junctions, post-war developments and former industrial areas to give people more ways to travel.

The city shows that car-first planning can be reversed. It takes political ambition, sustained investment and a willingness to rethink how public space is used, but it can be done.

Many thanks to Neil Guthrie and Tom Cohen from Cycling@Tea-time for organising and leading such an interesting trip, and to Wiel Wijnen from the Dutch Cycling Embassy for generously sharing his time, knowledge and enthusiasm.