CONCLUSIONES

Copenhagen Metropolitan Area had already long before the

investigation period of this project established a number of urban rail lines (the so-called S-train lines), a network of radial and ring urban motorways, and an extensive network of bike paths. Since the 1990s, the most important transport infrastructure investments have been the extension of some of the existing motorways with more lanes (from four lanes to six, eight and in one case even ten lanes), construction of new motorway links, and the establishment of a Metro in Copenhagen.

The Metro

The first decision to establish urban rail lines from the inner city of Copenhagen to the new urban development areas in Ørestaden and Kastrup airport on island of Amager was made in 1992. The first branch of the metro – from Vanløse to Vestamager – was opened in 2002. Five years later, an eastern branch to Kastrup airport was opened. These two lines are the only ones completed so far. In 2008, they carried on average 149,000 passengers daily. In 2005, it was decided to extend the metro with a City-ring line expected to be completed in 2018. Figure 2.9 shows the planned structure of the metro lines after completion of the City-ring.

Figure 2.9: Copenhagen’s existing (Vanløse – Vestamager and Vanløse – Lufthavnen) and planned future metro lines (the City-ring).

Source: Wikipedia (2009)

The Metro represents an important improvement of the public transport system and is well connected to the pre-existing urban rail lines (the S-trains). However, critics have pointed to the fact that the metro covers parts of the city where the passengers will be previous bicyclists and bus riders rather than motorists. Spending the invested money on light rail lines or other improvements of the public transport system would, according to the critics, have been a more effective way to make car drivers shift to public transport. Distinct from streetcars and light rail running on separate lanes, the metro runs underground and thus does not occupy street space now available for car traffic. The fact that the metro does not create ‘nuisances for car traffic’ was in fact one of the arguments emphasized in the decision to choose a metro solution rather than light rail lines (Wikipedia, 2009).

The motorway development

During the period 1991 – 2008, the length of the total Danish system of motorways increased from 653 to 1062 km (Vejdirektoratet, 2009a). A considerable part of the motorway development has taken place in Copenhagen Metropolitan Area, but rather in the form of extension of the number of lanes on existing roads than as

construction of completely new road links. During the period 1991 – 2008, the total length of the motorways within Copenhagen

(Statistics Denmark, 2009d) . Measured in kilometers of motorway lanes, the increase has been considerably higher (although no such statistics are available).

Since 2000, the following major motorway projects have been completed in Copenhagen Metropolitan Area:

– Extension of the M 3 ring road (Motorring 3) to from four to six lanes (17 km)

– Extensions of the Køge Bugt motorway (in the southward corridor from Copenhagen) from four to six, eight and for one section of the road ten lanes (in total 8 km). Figure 2.10 shows an aerial photograph of the ten-lane part of the extended road.

Figure 2.10: Aerial photograph of the ten-lane part of the extended Køge Bugt motorway between Hundige and Greve Syd. Source: Vejdirektoratet (2009).

Figure 2.11 shows the location of the above-mentioned roads as well as some motorway extensions and new links currently under

construction: The Fløng – Roskilde link (extension from four to six and eight lanes) and the first stage of the Frederikssund motorway.

Figure 2.11: Map showing the Motorring 3, the extended parts of the Køge Bugt motorway, the first stage of the Frederikssund motorway and the road link Fløng-Roskilde (the two latter links currently under construction).

The establishment of the Copenhagen metro and some other public transport improvements (notably the express buses along the ring roads) have probably contributed to some reduction in the growth in car traffic, although the proportion of metro passengers who are previous car travelers is probably not very high. However, due to the substantial road capacity increases that have also taken place, the effect of public transport improvements has to a high extent been offset and outweighed. In congested urban areas, better-flowing traffic tends to induce a number of people to travel by car who have

previously left their car in the garage because of congestion. By and large, the roads will fill up again, but the proportion of car drivers will then be higher, and the number of transit passengers (and ticket revenues for the transit companies) will be lower (Strand et al., 2009). Based on a study of travel modes for journeys to work among

employees at four workplaces in Copenhagen’s downtown area, Figure 2.12 shows how the likelihood of commuting by car varies with varying ratios of door-to-door travel times by car and transit (Næss & Møller, 2004).

Figure 2.12: Probabilities of commuting by car at varying ratios of door-to-door travel times by car and by public transport. Multivariate logistic regression. Probabilities refer to male respondents with high education, good parking conditions at the workplace, access to a private car on the investigated day, and mean value age (44 years). N = 292 employees working at five different workplaces in the inner and central part of Copenhagen. Sig. = 0.000. Source: Næss & Møller (2004).

Figure 2.13 shows how travel by different modes has developed within the functional Copenhagen region during the period 1995- 2007. Over these years, the amount of passenger transport carried out by car (measured in person kilometers) increased by 24 %. Adjusted for population growth, this corresponds to a traffic growth of 23 %. In the same period the amount of transport carried out by public transport was reduced by 7 %. Train travel overall did not change much, as the increase in rail traffic induced by the new metro was offset by a decrease in other train passengers. For bus transport, , there was a decrease of as much as 22 %. The only positive trait of development, seen from the perspective of sustainable mobility, is an impressing increase in bike travel by 24 % (Region Hovedstaden, 2009). Since the number of passengers per cars has for a long time shown a steady decrease, the 24 % growth in the number of passenger km by car probably reflects a slightly higher growth in vehicle km. Statistics for traffic growth along key motorways illustrate this. On Motorring 3, traffic grew by 32 % between 1996 and 2004, on Motorring 4 by 20 % and on the Køge Bugt motorway by 25 %. Over the entire period 1991 – 2007, traffic growth on these three motorways was 53 %, 51 % and 54 %, respectively. (Statistics Denmark, 2009e.)

Figure 2.13: Development of passenger transport by modes 1996- 2007 within Copenhagen Metropolitan Area). Index values, the level in 1996 = 100 for all modes. Passenger kilometers. Blue: private car, yellow: bus, red: train (including metro and local lines), green: bike, violet; public transport in total. Source: Region Hovedstaden, 2009, based on data from Statistics Denmark and the Ministry of Transport.

Copenhagen Metropolitan Area has a network of bike paths that must be considered to be of a high standard compared to most other European urban regions. Especially within the municipality of

Copenhagen, the development of the bike paths has been an important contribution to environmentally friendly mobility. Arguably,

Copenhagen is the major European city with the best network of bike paths. Most of this infrastructure was established prior to the period investigated in this project, but some extensions have been carried out also in the 1990s and after 2000. Between 1995 and 2006, the total length of bike paths within the municipality of Copenhagen increased from 293 to 332 km, and the inhabitants increased their travel by bike (measured in person km) by as much as 44 %. (Information, 2008.) In addition to the improvements of the bike path networks, the recent closure of one of the main access roads to Copenhagen’ inner city (Nørrebrogade) for through traffic by car should also be mentioned. The closure was introduced in 2008 as a trial and has later been recommended by the The Technical and Environmental Committee of the Municipality of Copenhagen to become a permanent solution. However, no final decision had yet been made when this report was completed (July 2009).