The money, which will see Denmark’s already extensive network of bike lanes continue to grow, comes from a 2021 transport agreement setting aside money for bicycle infrastructure, the Ministry of Transport said in a statement.
Some 64 different municipalities are receiving funding including 28 projects for school bike access.
Under the terms of the agreement, local authorities can get 40 percent of the cost of new bicycle lanes covered by the state fund.
The five new national bicycle lanes – which are fully state-funded – will be built in locations including the Hedensted, Næstved, Norddjurs and Kalundborg municipalities, which are split between Zealand and Jutland.
Distribution of the funding must be rubber-stamped by parliament’s Transport Committee, a process which will be scheduled for after parliament’s summer holiday, the ministry noted in the statement.
“It’s great that we are now expanding the bicycle lane network but cycling is unfortunately declining despite a political desire for the opposite,” the director of the Transport section with the Confederation of Danish Industry (DI), Karsten Lauritzen, said in a statement.
“The forthcoming investments in bicycle lanes which are part of the 2035 infrastructure plan should therefore be brought forward,” he said.
The Transport Minister, Thomas Danielsen said he agreed with the assessment that fewer people are using their bicycles and said a national strategy was on the way to tackle the issue.
“When I became transport minister I was gladly given responsibility for a three-billion-krone spending plan for cycling. I did that but at the same time, we don’t have a clear idea of how to get the most cycling and therefore most for this money,” Danielsen said.
“So this cycling strategy should take the form of a resource to help us decision-makers spend the money as wisely as possible,” he added.
The strategy should be prepared by late 2025, he added.
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