Ecology Center

I fell in love and married a Norwegian. Since then I have been living the better part of 18 years in Norway, most of it in Trondheim. But I was born and raised in the Upper Peninsula, and much of my family still lives there. We are home in Michigan for a year and trying to adjust to the differences in lifestyle.

In Norway my lifestyle includes a lot of bicycling. Despite relatively close proximity to the Arctic Circle and few hours of daylight during the dark and gray months of winter, many people bike year round in Trondheim.

Studded bicycle tires, made for biking on snow and ice, can be easily purchased in Norway. Sometimes it's hard to imagine that anybody would want to ride a bike when weather conditions are unfavorable, even with the help of studded tires. But I remember one day in the middle of winter especially well. I looked out of the window with some trepidation at a blowing blizzard and decided to leave my bike at home. This weather was foul. Yet while hiking my well bundled self into town, and blinking the snow from my eyes, I noticed hundreds of bikes parked on campus. When the university is in session there are usually many bikes parked there, regardless of the weather. Once in a rare while one encounters a battered individual who has taken a spill. This seems, however, to be of little deterrence.

There have been many bicycle-friendly changes in Trondheim over the past 10 years. From 1989-97, about 140 million Norwegian kroner (roughly $20 million) was spent on various bicycle related projects there. Many bicycle/pedestrian paths have been built, often with overpasses or underpasses so that major roads can be crossed without stopping for traffic. The bicycle path network stretches over 100 kilometers, and there are plans to double that number (in just the Trondheim area). And further consideration has been given to those who don't like pushing their bikes up one of the steep and intimidating hills that surround the city. Near the downtown area the first bicycle lift in the world was built.

Like many cities, Trondheim is plagued by urban sprawl, and not everyone wants to bike kilometers to get to the center of town. For those who take the bus downtown or live nearby, "city bikes" can be used during the snow-free season. About 200 easily recognizable and distinctive bikes have been placed in 30 bike stations around the downtown area. A small deposit is required to use them. The bikes are unlike any for sale and have advertisements on the wheels. They can only be used within a proscribed area, but that area is quite large. According to one investigation, 9 out of 10 city dwellers are positive about this program, 7 out 10 said they would consider using it sometime, and about half of the people interviewed were able to name the advertisements on the wheels.

Gas in Norway costs about four times what it does here and the facilities for bike riding are better, at least in some cities. According to Vital Signs 1999, by Lester R. Brown, Michael Renner and Brian Halweil, in Western Europe a little over 18% of workers walk or bike to work, and only about 43% drive cars (the remainder use public transportation). In the United States, fewer than 5% walk or bike to work, while over 86% drive. Deaths per 100,000 associated with transportation are close to 15 for the U.S. while only about 9 for Western Europe. This information is from 1990, yet it still reflects differences in transportation habits. If cycling conditions were better here, and car driving more expensive, would there be more cyclists as well?

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