Cykelgader: Copenhagen’s Designated Bikestreets
Cykelgade Zone sign. Driving exempt.
If you walk or cycle through Copenhagen today, you might notice something different. On streets that once felt dominated by cars, signs have changed, surfaces have been redesigned, and the balance of power has shifted. These are the city’s new Cykelgader. Bicycle streets where bikes have the right of way, and cars are reduced to guests.
Instead of marginalizing the bicycle to a narrow track at the edge of the street, Cykelgader put cycling at the center. Cars are still allowed, but only if permitted by signs, and then only as guests: they must slow down, yield, and adapt to the rhythm of everyday urban cycling. The model is borrowed from the Netherlands, where so-called fietsstraten have existed for years, but in Copenhagen it marks the next chapter in the city’s mobility story.
Video by Gottlieb Paludan Architects. See more about the project here
From Highways to Bicycle Streets
To understand why Cykelgader matter, it helps to look back. In the 1960s, Copenhagen’s planners dreamed of the opposite kind of city. The Søringen motorway would have paved over parts of the lakes to funnel cars into the center, while City Plan Vest proposed demolishing large parts of Vesterbro for traffic corridors and modernist towers. Only fierce protests and economic crises prevented those plans from being realized.
Instead, Copenhagen began experimenting with the pedestrianization of Strøget in 1962, slowly investing in cycle tracks, and eventually reorienting its planning around livability and human-scale mobility. What we see today with Cykelgader is part of that same lineage, a reversal of priorities that began when the city rejected the motorway logic. Where once asphalt expansion meant space for cars, now it means space for bikes.
What Exactly Is a Cykelgade?
A Cykelgade is a street where cycling has first priority. The carriageway is designated for cycles and small mopeds; motor vehicles may only drive there if an extra sign (Kørsel tilladt) is posted. When driving is allowed, motorists must adapt to the speed of cyclists (normally under ~30 km/h; the city cites an average cyclist speed of ~15 km/h) and may only park in marked bays. All users owe each other special caution, and the intent is explicit: bikes set the pace, cars follow.
To make that priority unmistakable, red asphalt has been approved: on 8 April 2025 the Technical & Environmental Committee backed four new Cykelgader and decided to lay red asphalt on Stefansgade (with funding in place), while bringing colored asphalt for the other corridors into the next budget round. The political direction is clear—over time, most Cykelgader should be red when streets are resurfaced—so the visual language becomes consistent across the city. As of that decision, Copenhagen listed 11 existing Cykelgader (including Rantzausgade, Vestergade and Vendersgade) and noted further conversions on the way, such as Nyhavns sydside.
Cykelgade sign
“Cars are guests"
Early Experiments and Lessons Learned
Copenhagen first tested the idea on Vestergade, Vendersgade, and Nordre Frihavnsgade. The results were mixed. On Vestergade and Vendersgade, where car volumes were moderate, the bicycle streets functioned reasonably well. But Nordre Frihavnsgade became a cautionary tale.
There, the city tried to make one corridor serve too many purposes at once: bicycle street, bus corridor, shopping destination, and parking zone. The result was conflict. Cyclists felt unsafe, cars got frustrated, and the police were skeptical. In the end, Copenhagen abandoned Nordre Frihavnsgade as a Cykelgade. The lesson was clear: if car traffic is too high, or if deliveries and buses dominate, the bicycle advantage disappears.
The municipality’s own evaluation confirms this. Parking maneuvers, delivery stops, and buses interrupted the flow of cycling. Information campaigns sometimes even contradicted traffic law, leaving both drivers and cyclists confused. The concept works, but only under the right design conditions.
Today, Cykelgader are being introduced across Copenhagen. From Vestergade in the old city to Vendersgade near the Lakes, from Valhalsgade in Østerbro to newly renovated Rantzausgade in Nørrebro, the model is spreading. Each street adapts the idea to its own context: some are short connectors, others long stretches of urban life.
The case of Rantzausgade is instructive. Recently renovated and reopened, it demonstrates how a dangerous street once full of through-traffic can be reshaped into a calmer corridor where bikes dominate. Local cafés and small shops benefit from slower speeds, and the atmosphere has shifted toward livability rather than throughput.
Great Potential
When car volumes are kept low and design elements clearly support bike priority, the full carriageway becomes a wide, flexible cycling space. Danish case studies show that after conversion, cycling numbers rise significantly: in Odense, Rødegårdsvej saw a 74% increase in cyclists over three years, with bikes eventually outnumbering cars four to one.
The difference between a Cykelgade and a segregated cycle superhighway is not maximum capacity, but consistency. On superhighways, separation guarantees predictable flow. On Cykelgader, performance depends on managing car access, deliveries, and parking. Done right, they can form parts of major corridors. Done poorly, they risk becoming ambiguous hybrids. They have existed for decades in the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium, and Denmark has implemented them since 2012, when Aarhus introduced the country’s first on Mejlgade. Official signage was added to the Danish traffic code in 2016, and Copenhagen followed soon after, making Vestergade its first. Today, the municipality lists all existing and planned Cykelgader as part of the cycling network.
In this light, Copenhagen’s latest additions, including Rantzausgade, are not experiments in the dark. They are a continuation of a proven concept, adapted to local conditions.
Copenhagen’s urban history is full of forks in the road. In the 1970s, the city chose not to build Søringen. In the 1980s and 90s, it chose to invest in cycle tracks and pedestrian streets. Now, in the 2020s, it faces another choice: do we prioritize cars through more parking and new road space, or do we double down on cycling and livability?
Cykelgader may look modest on a map, but they are part of this broader choice. They remind us that every street design is political. A Cykelgade is not just a new sign or surface treatment. It is a statement about what kind of city Copenhagen wants to be.
You can read more about cykelgader at the municipalities website here: https://www.kk.dk/borger/parkering-trafik-og-veje/trafik-og-veje/cykelgader-i-koebenhavn
You can read more about the cykelgade project on Vendersgade, from the main architects behind the transformation Gottlieb Paludan here https://gottliebpaludan.com/da/projects/vendersgade
With Nordic Path, you can experience how Copenhagen’s bicycle streets are reshaping everyday mobility. From recently renovated corridors like Rantzausgade to earlier experiments across the city, we show how policy, design, and politics come together in the streetscape and what that means for cyclists, residents, and the city overall.
