Officials from across county working to translate lessons learned from trip to study Netherlands’ bike-first infrastructure

Before Santa Cruz County Supervisor Felipe Hernandez learned about the Netherlands’ bike-first infrastructure, he believed the country had it easy, and that everyone was on board with implementing safer roads for pedestrians and cyclists. Hernandez soon realized he was wrong. 

“They started this way back in 1974 and it didn’t just happen overnight,” Hernandez said. He had no idea that there was a whole movement for and against the bike and pedestrian infrastructure, and discovered that what happened early on in Netherlands was very similar to the struggles in Watsonville. 

Hernandez, who previously served on the Watsonville City Council, said at one point his city had no bike lanes and had the second-most bicycle and pedestrian accidents in the state. Over time, it added bike lanes, and Hernandez, an avid bike rider growing up, said addressing pedestrian and bike safety in Watsonville became his calling. 

“Most cities around us in Santa Cruz already had the green bike lanes,” Hernandez said. “We wanted to make sure that we kept our community safe.”

Hernandez and Sarah Wikle, senior city planner for Scotts Valley, were among the dozen elected officials and government employees from all over the county who went on a three-day trip last summer to the Netherlands to learn more about how the country was able to prioritize bike infrastructure and environmental impact, in hopes of applying those methods in Santa Cruz County. 

The trip was organized by local nonprofit Ecology Action, a nonprofit dedicated to working toward community climate solutions. Matt Miller, director of mobility transformation, said planning the trip — or at least the idea of having one — began in 2022. 

Ecology Action funded the study-visit for all participants, said Miller, although some jurisdictions covered their own travel expenses. Miller could not disclose which local jurisdictions paid for their own travel and declined to share how much the trip cost the nonprofit. 

Dutch bicycle manufacturer Gazelle — whose United States headquarters is in Santa Cruz — organized a biking summit, said Miller. During the two-day workshop, Dutch representatives shared how the country went from a car-first infrastructure to one that prioritizes bicyclists and pedestrians. 

By the end of the workshop, Miller said, conversations among county leaders started to turn to the possibilities here in Santa Cruz County. 

“People came away with some real inspiration and surprising realizations of what might be possible here,” Miller said. “We’ve got a lot of really good people in elected office and staff who are trying to make a difference and trying to invest in alternatives and adding pedestrian and bike infrastructure and working on transit improvement.” 

It was important to have first-hand experience on Dutch roads, said Miller, because it would make the possibility of applying those methods locally more tangible. 

Wikle said she didn’t know what to expect from the trip, but was excited at the same time. She said that while the Netherlands’ infrastructure was an idealized model, she, like Hernandez, hadn’t a clue as to how the country got there.

“What was really amazing was to see how comfortable I felt on a bike there,” Wikle said. She also noted some of the surprising things the Netherlands had done, like that some roads were cobblestone instead of asphalt to slow down traffic. 

Hernandez said he gained hope – and motivation – in learning that it took the Dutch decades to perfect the infrastructure, including that another major part of the Netherlands project was expanded public transit.

The group visited cities including Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, Hernandez said. At every train station, there were massive parking garages — for bikes – capable of fitting around 36,000 bicycles. 

One of the speakers on the trip commutes from Amsterdam to The Hague via bike and train, said Hernandez, and it takes him 30 minutes less than by car. 

“If we could commute [like that], that would not only reduce greenhouse gasses,” Hernandez said, “it would unplug the freeways for folks, so that only service vehicles would be on there.” 

It could be easy for someone to become skeptical about applying the Dutch’s methods locally due to topography differences, said Miller – compared to Santa Cruz County, the Netherlands is flat as a pancake. But he said there are still many lessons to learn from European strategies. 

At the county level, Hernandez said that he and County Supervisor Manu Koenig are beginning to discuss proposing an ordinance — nothing concrete — so that every time the county paves a road, new bike lanes are added. The biggest challenge, he said, is finding the funding. 

Wikle said Scotts Valley is looking into narrowing the roadway to widen the bike lanes on Scotts Valley Drive, which is one of the city’s main arteries and one vehicles often navigate at high speeds. The city also received funding from the county’s Regional Transportation Commission for roadway improvements on Scotts Valley Drive when Wikle returned from the trip, she said. 

The Scotts Valley City Council also directed city staff to explore the possibility of a buffered bike lane system — which would create a space between a bike lane and a car lane. Wikle said the project is still in its preliminary stages, and the Netherlands trip helped inform conversations with elected officials. 

The buffered bike lanes are a starting point, said Wikle, and the city could look at other ideas to implement bike safety. 

“The buffered bike lanes were a really big win for the community,” she said, not only in terms of design but also the statement it was making that things have to change in Scotts Valley to make it safer for cyclists.

The trip also gave these county leaders the opportunity to collaborate with each other, said Miller, adding that Ecology Action will be coordinating quarterly meetings for elected officials and city staff to share updates on projects each city is working on. 

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