How Britain’s Most Bike-Friendly New Town Got Built
Planners of the Waterbeach development near Cambridge designed the new housing complex with abundant cycling infrastructure to support car-free living.
A bike bridge in Waterbeach is part of the town’s extensive network of cycling infrastructure.
Credit: Urban&Civic
You could be forgiven for thinking you were in the Netherlands when you enter Waterbeach. A 716-acre lakeside development being built on a former RAF base outside the UK city of Cambridge, the new town is rising on wetlands that were reclaimed by Dutch engineers in the 1600s. And like many places in Holland, Waterbeach’s design and planning puts people before cars.
Cycle lanes, protected with strips of plantings, thread through the complex, while residential streets are access-only for cars, which must pass over raised crosswalks on the few through-routes. Bike sheds flank the entrances to homes, with residents’ cars relegated to parking spots behind houses. Students will be expected to walk, wheel or cycle to the neighborhood’s primary school; only staff, who are likely to live farther away, and those with disabilities can drive in or do car drop-offs.