– Lower Silesia is one of the first regions in Poland to address bicycle routes in such a comprehensive manner. Together with experts and representatives of the cycling tourism community, we are developing a strategy for building a network of bicycle routes throughout the region. We have also developed design standards to ensure that newly built routes are safe, functional, user-friendly and environmentally friendly – says Marshal Cezary Przybylski of Bezpartyjni Samorządowcy.
The Lower Silesian Cycle Route comprises more than 1,800 km of routes that will improve the region’s transport accessibility, integrate local bicycle routes and connect them with the Lower Silesian railway network. The Lower Silesian Cycle Route project is based on a network of main bicycle routes covering the entire region and also connecting with bicycle routes on the Czech and German sides. The project is based on objective criteria and provides, among other things, access to tourist attractions, connections with the region’s most important centres and integration with public transport.
– We are waiting for EU funds from the new financial perspective to be launched, which will largely finance the Lower Silesian Cycle Route. Naturally, construction of the entire regional route system will be based on cooperation with local authorities, including their financial participation. Together, we will create a tourism product that will be groundbreaking on a national scale – adds Deputy Marshal Grzegorz Macko of Prawo i Sprawiedliwość.
Comments can be submitted!
Comments on the Cycle Route project can be submitted until June 10:
- via the marshal’s office website,
- by email at rower@irt.wroc.pl,
- and, for the first time, via the Lower Silesian Geoportal.
The latter method also makes it possible to propose new routes for sections of the Cycle Route on the map. The form is available at https://geoportal.dolnyslask.pl/imap/#gpmap=gp109, where users should select the type of comment being submitted in the menu on the left.
UMWD:
The Lower Silesian Cycle Route project is the result of planning work carried out over the past four years. In 2017, the Lower Silesian Voivodeship Board adopted the Lower Silesian Bicycle Policy, whose primary objective is to increase the share of bicycle traffic in transport within the voivodeship. A year later, a letter of intent was signed concerning Blue Velo – a bicycle route along the Oder River, running from the Czech border all the way to the Baltic Sea.
The document was signed during the Metropolitan Cycling Forum, organized, among others, by the marshal’s office and the Institute for Territorial Development. The Blue Velo route draws on the model of long-distance bicycle trails running along river valleys, such as the Elbe Cycle Route and the path along the Danube. Thanks to intensive tourism, these routes are an important factor in the socio-economic development of the areas through which they run, bringing them tangible economic benefits.
The Institute for Territorial Development, which is subordinate to the voivodeship marshal, is involved in a number of projects related to cycling. These include the “Concept for zero-emission transport in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship – bicycle mobility in the daily commutes of Lower Silesia residents” and a concept concerning design and construction standards for the region’s emerging bicycle infrastructure. The latter initiative is particularly important because it defines how future routes will be designed and built.
The project will be financed, among other sources, with European Union funds. Since some bicycle routes are already complete, the estimated cost of implementing the Lower Silesian Cycle Route will be approximately PLN 850 million. Some investments are nevertheless necessary for the network to meet safety, comfort and attractiveness standards and to be accessible to all cyclists, regardless of age, equipment, physical ability or financial means.
– The Lower Silesian Cycle Route comprises nearly 1,800 kilometres of bicycle routes. We hope to complete it within the next three or four years in cooperation with Lower Silesian municipalities – explains Tymoteusz Myrda, a member of the Board of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. – These will be tourist, long-distance routes running not only through our region but also through neighbouring voivodeships. They will connect with routes in Germany and the Czech Republic. I am convinced that this project will bring benefits by making Lower Silesia’s attractions more accessible, encouraging more people to visit and support regional tourism in this way – he adds.
More about the routes
The region’s main bicycle routes form a network nearly 1,800 km long. The network consists of 11 main routes, including five national routes that form part of the nationwide bicycle route system adopted by the Convention of Marshals of the Republic of Poland:
- National Route No. 9 – EV 9 (Adriatic–Baltic),
- National Route No. 3 – Blue Velo (Olomouc–Baltic),
- National Route No. 12 – Słubice–Katowice,
- National Route No. 6 – Via Regia Route (Dresden–Kyiv),
- National Route No. 8 (Wrocław–Warsaw).
Officials:
The Lower Silesian Cycle Route is intended not only to serve a recreational function but also to become an important element of the local transport network. A bicycle is the most environmentally friendly means of transport, and current technological developments allow bicycles to be used over much longer distances. As a result, cycling is becoming a real alternative for daily commutes to work, school or the shops. The region’s main bicycle routes can therefore serve recreation, tourism and transport alike. The Lower Silesian Cycle Route will significantly improve the region’s transport accessibility by connecting them with regional rail transport. By developing this form of transport, the voivodeship authorities are also pursuing the objectives set out in the European Union’s Green Deal policy.
– The most important goals we want to achieve are, of course, climate neutrality in the longer term, as well as transport multimodality – that is, integrating different forms of travel, including cycling, in the region. I encourage you to contact us and submit comments on the project via the websites of the marshal’s office and the Institute for Territorial Development, as well as through the Lower Silesian Geoportal – concludes Maciej Zathey, director of the Institute for Territorial Development.