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(POSSIBILITY OF RENTING BICYCLES)
Ferrara: a city where, according to local hearsay, children learn to cycle before
they learn to walk; a city which boasts of a very long-standing acquaintance with
bikes, which were once the only means for shortening the journey to the fields or
factories, and are now the only hope of escaping from motor traffic pollution.
A city which has 136215 inhabitants and at least 100000 bicycles on the roads - a
percentage as high as in Northern Europe if not higher - as opposed to 80000 cars.
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Where the most distant suburbs are no more than 5 kilometres from the centre and where,
according to the last census, 30,7% of journeys for study or for work are usually made
by bicycle, 20,1% on foot and 14% by public transport; a city which has a 50 hectares
restricted traffic zone, various pedestrian precincts (open to bicycles) totaling 5
hectares and extensive programmes facilitating cycle traffic. At present 33 kilometres
of different kinds of cycle routes have been constructed and work is being carried out
on various others. The network of bicycle routes involves: the radial roads leading to
the historical centre; two ring routes, one inside and one outside the city walls;
the viale Cavour-corso Giovecca axis, which cuts the city in two zones and enters the
restricted traffic zone.
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Within the walls, an area of great urbanistic interest where the local government’s
commitment is expressed by traffic volume reduction and by integrating the various
means of transport including bicycles, the part involved in projects separating the
cycle flow is the more modem one, where the papal fortress and the vegetable patches
used to be. This is the Circoscrizione Arianuova Giardino, an area characterised
by broad streets often bordered by side lanes. An efficient cycle network has been
planned here with bicycle-only routes. The most inhabited area outside the city is
the one to the south which is linked to the centre by via Bologna; cycle lanes are
already in use on both sides of this road, but it will nevertheless be necessary
to carry out some more radical work in order to make it safer and more practicable for
bicycles. Another important area, via Arginone, will be linked to the city (1997) by
means of a railway under-pass which will permit cyclists from the area to reach
the centre safely in a matter of minutes.
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