Orihuela Costa bike lanes

Orihuela Costa carril bici

The plan for this blog post, is to show the need for more bike lanes in Orihuela Costa.

El plan para esta entrada de blog es mostrar la necesidad de más carriles bici en Orihuela Costa.

Bike lane suggestions, sorted by neighbourhoods

Sugerencias de carriles para bicicletas, ordenadas por vecindarios

This heat map is showing the most used bike routes of people using the Strava app.

Este mapa de calor muestra las rutas en bicicleta más utilizadas por las personas que utilizan la aplicación Strava.

Carril bici en Orihuela Costa

Open Strava heat map in a new window

This map is showing the last 4000 trips from HOPP Scooters. 2021-08-30 Carril bici en Orihuela Costa


New bike lanes suggestions I am working on using Google Maps layers:

Nuevas sugerencias de carriles para bicicletas en las que estoy trabajando usando capas de Google Maps:

Open the map in a new window


Why build more bike lanes?

  • 🛴 So people on bikes / scooters can travel safely and more efficiently.
    • People are afraid to bike next to car traffic.
  • 🛣️ It is a proven fact that when bicycle lanes are built, more people start using them.
    • Look at Valencia, Sevilla, Barcelona, Madrid, London, Copenhagen, Amsterdam etc.
    • All these cities had an increase in bike usage, after bike lanes were built.
  • 🚲 Less cars, less traffic.
  • 🌳 Less air (and noise) pollution.
  • 🅿️ More parking spaces for those who still use the car.

In order for people to use bike lanes, the bike lanes need to be faster and easier to use.

Types of bike lanes

No bike lane

Dangerous. Cyclists don't have their own lane.

Painted bike lane

Cyclists have their own lane, next to a road. Drivers can drive or park on the lane.

Segregated bike lane.

Cars cannot drive or park on the bike lane.

Segregated bike lane in shade

Cars cannot drive or park on the bike lane. Trees provide shade to cyclists, making the ride easier in the sun.

Things to avoid when building bike lanes

  • 90 degree turns
  • Rough edges or curbs
  • Putting bike lanes in the middle of the street

Orihuela Costa statistics

Many foreigners live in Orihuela Costa, either full time or part time. These are often people from northern Europe that are used to biking, and you can see people over 65 riding their bikes around the area.

Population 2018 (Wikipedia)

  • Orihuela: 76.778
  • Orihuela Costa: 20.005

Current bike lanes 2021

This is the current and planned bicycle lanes according to orihuelaturistica.es


Notice how many bike lanes the neighboring city, Pilar de la Horadada has.

Bike lanes on http://www.opencyclemap.org/


In the La Zenia shopping mall, we see this sign about the benefits of biking.

For more pictures see:

Bike lanes in Orihuela Costa
Red de carril bici - Bike lane network

Photo album of people using bikes and electric scooters in Orihuela Costa

Sources: