13 September
The plan was prepared by the lead partner the Directorate together with experts from Transport Integration as part of the research work in the framework of the project «Cycling». In this work, the emphasis is placed on the territories north of Saint Petersburg towards Finland.
While developing the plan, attention was paid to comments and suggestions made at an interactive seminar on August, 15 held in the Committee of the Leningrad Region for Tourism. Mentioned at the seminar attractions were marked on the map and new routes are added.
An important task was to take into account proposals of cycling communities of the Leningrad region and the Committee of the Leningrad Region for Tourism for further coordination of development of cycling in the Leningrad region. At present, the Directorate is carrying out the 3rd stage of the project research work, including development of a concept for development of cycling tourism in border areas. It includes specific steps and measures to be taken for development of cycling as well as socio-economic assessment of such a program.
Both the Leningrad Region and St. Petersburg have unique opportunities for development of cross-border cycling. Two international cycle routes pass through their territory: EuroVelo 10 (Around the Baltic Sea) and EuroVelo13 (Iron Curtain from Norway to Turkey). However, officially parts of these routes in Russia don’t have a certificate of compliance with EuroVelo standards. One of the results of the research will be an assessment of the necessary measures for the update of existing roads and construction of lacking bicycle infrastructure in order to obtain the EuroVelo certificate.
