October 2, 2019

In the Netherlands, the largest bicycle parking facility in the world recently opened in the city of Utrecht. The underground Fietsenstalling Stationsplein (Bicycle Parking Station Square), in Utrecht’s city center, has space for 12,500 bikes. Double-decker racks hold thousands of bikes in a three-storied concrete and glass garage, and riders pedal directly into the building and up to their parking spaces. Part of the building opened in 2018, but the fietsenstalling did not reach its full operational capacity until August 2019.

A man parks his bicycle at the Fietsenstalling Stationsplein in Utrecht on Aug. 20, 2019. Credit: © Abdullah Asiran, Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Bicycling, or fietsen in Dutch, is a popular activity and sport in the Netherlands, but it is also a practical mode of daily transport. In Dutch cities, about 40 percent of people use bikes for daily travel (as opposed to fewer than 2 percent of people in United States cities). To accommodate all those bike commuters, Dutch cities have an abundance of bike lanes in the streets, protected intersections, special bike paths away from car traffic, and numerous bicycle parking areas. Utrecht has long had such “bike friendly” infrastructure (the world’s first bike lane opened there in 1885), but to handle the ever-increasing bike congestion in the city center, a more ambitious solution was needed.

The city of Utrecht worked with NS, the national Dutch railway, to build the bike garage at Stationsplein (Station Square). (NS [Nederlandse Spoorwegen, or Dutch Railways] estimates that about half its customers in Utrecht arrive at stations by bicycle, so it makes sense for the railway to accommodate bike commuters.) Stationsplein connects the busy Utrecht Centraal Railway Station with the Hoog Catharijne shopping center. The bustling area is a common destination for both shoppers and commuters, and the bike garage—directly beneath the square—provides an affordable and secure place to leave your bike. The first 24 hours of parking are free, and the garage never closes. A digital system directs cyclists to available parking spots, and the walls are color coded to aid in navigation. There are also bike maintenance areas in the facility and more than 1,000 bikes available to rent.

Adding to the bicycling infrastructure in the Netherlands is an important part of the nation’s commitment to fighting air pollution and climate change. Bicycling is a healthy, inexpensive, and environmentally friendly way to commute.

October 26, 2018

On this date in 1825, the Erie Canal was completed in upstate New York in the northeastern United States. The Erie Canal was the first important national waterway built in the United States. It crossed New York from Buffalo on Lake Erie to Albany to Troy on the Hudson River. The canal joined the Atlantic Ocean with the Great Lakes system. It provided a route over which manufactured goods and settlers could flow into the Midwest without passing through Canada, and over which timber and agricultural products could be transported back to the East Coast.

Many boats, like these in Fairport, New York, continue to navigate the Erie Canal. The canal opened 193 years ago today on Oct. 26, 1825. Credit: © Leonard Zhukovsky, Shutterstock

For a hundred years before the Erie Canal was built, people had been talking about a canal that would join the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean. The man who planned the Erie Canal and carried the plans through was De Witt Clinton. Clinton was mayor of New York City for most of the period between 1803 and 1815. He was governor of the state from 1817 to 1822 and again from 1825 until his death in 1828. Those who opposed the canal laughingly called it “Clinton’s Ditch.”

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The Erie Canal crosses New York from Buffalo on Lake Erie to Troy and Albany on the Hudson River. Credit: WORLD BOOK map

In 1816, after failing to secure federal funding, Clinton petitioned the New York State Legislature to build the canal. His petition won so much support that the governor appointed a canal commission and made Clinton its head. Clinton became governor in 1817, and shortly afterward, on July 4, 1817, broke ground for the canal in Rome, New York, then a village on the Mohawk River. The canal opened after eight years of construction on Oct. 26, 1825. The first barge to travel its entire length, Seneca Chief, left Buffalo with Clinton on board on that day. It arrived in New York City on November 4 and was greeted all along the way by enthusiastic crowds.

The building of the canal was paid for by the state of New York. It cost $7,143,789, but it soon earned its price many times over. The canal cut freight rates between Buffalo and New York City by more than 90 percent and strengthened New York City’s position as the nation’s largest city and principal port. As the canal traffic grew, towns along its course prospered. Albany, Utica, Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo became major cities.

The canal was enlarged several times between 1835 and 1862. But business began to fall off in the 1870’s as railroads became the main long-distance carriers of freight and passengers. In 1903, the people of New York voted to build a great modern waterway, linking the Erie Canal with three shorter canals in the state to form what now is called the New York State Canal System. This system, which is 524 miles (843 kilometers) long, opened in 1918.