At the beginning of April, I was fortunate to be able to make another trip to the Netherlands, my ninth since 2015, and this will be the first of a few posts talking about what I saw.

I am of course travelling on holiday, and one cannot get under the skin of any place as a tourist. However, I also travel with an engineer’s eye and so I hope that I can do some justice to what I see and there are certainly things which get stored in my brain for later.

For this trip I wasn’t sure if I’d see much new for a UK audience, but 300 photos and some video said otherwise! For this trip, I was with my son who likes the cycling days, but puts up with my geekery with promises of finding sports bars in the evenings!

It is worth mentioning here that the project was built to reduce traffic congestion which is quite amazing from the UK perspective, and especially from an English perspective given the millions of pounds being thrown at National Highways to build lane miles.

The other thing I want to mention now is that I am pretty sure we got lost along the route a couple of times because to be honest, the signage could be better which is not a criticism I’d normally make about the Dutch cycling network.

The trip took just over hour, perhaps a little slower than many people, but we had also cycled from Ede-Wageningen to Arnhem after travelling by train for a few hours and so we were a little tired! But, even with standard cycles, this route really does open up the opportunity for cycle commuting, and e-cycles would make it really quite easy. The photograph above shows the route just after leaving the centre of Arnhem with a wide two-way cycle track, a road carrying part of the city’s trolleybus network and the N225 road beyond that.

A little further on, the route crosses a nature area on a viaduct called the Doorlaatbrug Eldensedijk which used to be a flood barrier until the 1990s.

A little further south and there is a pair of bus stops for the trolleybus with a pedestrian link off to the left down to provide access to the neighbourhoods to the east.

For completeness, above is a photo of the type of trolleybuses which are found in Arnhem and unique to the Netherlands, having been in operation since 1949.

The N225 turns east through Arnhem South and the A12 motorway which crosses the Netherlands east to west from Den Haag to Arnhem and then across the border to become Germany’s Autobahn 3, a route that continues into Austria. The F325 continues south with a bridge over the N225 (above).

The route is now away from roads, maintaining its width, and because it is a transport route it is lit. The photograph above shows a local junction with the F325 heading to the left with markings and signs reinforcing the fact.

The route joins Huissensedijk (above) which was quiet enough, although perhaps it might provide better wayfinding if it were a cycle street.

We then ended up taking a wrong turn, ending up on Brinksestraat, rather than continuing ahead on the F325. In hindsight, it should have been obvious, but a lack of priority at the decision point must have thrown me a bit. So, we carried on using the advisory cycle lanes

After turning onto Huissensedijk (above), we continued vaguely along the A325 motorway.

We then found a sign indicating the F325 route towards Elst as well as Nijmegen and so we carried on and noticed the lighting was that of the F325 (above and below) which is modelled on cycle chain links.

The photograph above shows the route to the east of Elst and where it shares a corridor with a rural service road (Sillestraat) and the A325 to the right. Sillestraat was essentially widened to create the F325 with the two-way cycle track being nicely protected and giving a good level of confidence from a wayfinding perspective.

Above is the route as it passes under Bemmelseweg and continues on Zwarteweg (below), which had probably the worst cycle track surface I have ever experienced in the Netherlands where there was definitely a problem with the surfacing material failing.

As we entered the edges of Nijmegen, we passed the city’s Pathé Nijmegen cinema complex which was quite incongruous given its out of town position, although it is full of cycle parking and only a few minutes from residential areas. The A325 turns in the N325 around here and the cinema has it’s own junction nearby. The F325 route passes a roundabout which looks like it is all set up for development in the area.

The route then becomes a shared access road to a series of floating buildings on a lake complex which I thought were residential, but on looking more closely, there are some which seem to be office buildings which is interesting. The shared road accesses some local car parking for the floating buildings.

Continuing south, we entered the suburbs of Nijmegen (above) on a cycle track which had priority over local connector roads such as Vrouwe Udasingel (below) where the connector road was locally dualled with narrow traffic lanes and which meant only crossing one half at a time.

The route gave way to becoming a cycle street (below) and we ended up getting lost again!

We picked up the route again at Nijmgen Lent station (below) where it rises to meet the railway bridge over the River Waal and of course, there was lots of cycle parking at the station.

The cycle route was added to the existing railway structure and opened in 2004 and provides an impressive gateway to Nijmegen.

In fact, the F325 route enters Nijmegen in two places, this railway bridge and also on the N325 road bridge which probably explains us getting a little lost before the river crossing!

Once crossed the railway bridge (above) continues for a while on a viaduct (below).

Eventually, the viaduct drops gently to street level at Stieltjesstraat where the fast route ends and you can continue your journey within the city.

Notwithstanding the occasional navigation issue, our progress along the route was quite rapid and its status as a fast route is well-earned. There were plenty of people using the route along its length, but clearly it also provides quick links into the two cities from their respective suburbs in addition to being a route connecting them.

I shall leave you with a video of most of the route at 4x speed (I had a couple of recording problems that afternoon).