Soaking wet bicycle demonstration for bridge over the IJ: ‘My blood is boiling’
No, it is not a peer group for people with rain suits or a demonstration for more cycling in the rain: the approximately fifty people who gathered on Saturday afternoon in front of the Stadsloket on Buikslotermeerplein want a bicycle bridge over the IJ.
“It’s a shame that it hasn’t arrived yet,” says Harm van Meurs (65), who has lived in Noord for 25 years. ‘Very trying. The city council does not have the best interests of the residents in Noord. That’s not a feeling, that’s how it is. The North/South line to Schiphol is possible, but a unique bridge for a city district where more than a hundred thousand inhabitants live is not possible. My blood is boiling.”
Not a penny
The Fietsmuseum and the Fietsersbond Amsterdam are therefore organizing a bicycle demonstration on Saturday afternoon. The two parties want ‘improved accessibility of Noord and the implementation of the Sprong over the IJ.’
As early as February last year, the municipality took the decision to build two bridges to Noord, plus a pedestrian passage behind Central Station, but so far ‘not a penny has been reserved’ to implement the plans.
The demonstration cycles from the city counter in Noord to the Stopera where they hand over a petition to alderman Melanie van der Horst (Traffic) who receives the soaking wet cyclists. Co-organizer of the bicycle demonstration Myriam Corzillius (62) counted on a few hundred people, but is especially proud of the turnout.
More sustainable
“The weather is terrible. You can expect that in January. In April we had a better chance of good weather, but then we are too late. The presentation of the Spring Memorandum is earlier this year and we will influence this demonstration there. We should also not forget, with an eye to the future, that bicycle bridges are much more sustainable than the ferry.”
Jolmer Siersma (23) is also cycling along. He thinks the situation on the ferry is no longer tenable. “Noord is getting bigger and busier and I also notice that on the ferry. It is often completely full and I don’t have a car. I now depend on the ferry.”
Money used for something else
At the moment, about 70,000 people use the ferries every day. It is expected that by 2030 this will be 70 percent to around 120,000 daily users.
The plans for a bridge are promising times. Politically it was since February 2022 never this closebut in October it became clear that the city has already used the reserved 135 million euros for the bridges over the IJ for other purposes to complete the calculation.
Corzillius hoped that the Executive Board would rectify this in the spring memorandum and ‘really’ do what it had promised several times and come up with money. “I’m 62, I hope I’ll live to see it.”
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