During the first half of the project implementation several notable activities have taken place – a project kick-off meeting, a stakeholder group meeting and an analysis of the Kurzeme region on cycling infrastructure and cycling, as well as the first experience trip to Sopron in Hungary. More details below.
The project kick-off meeting took place on 10 June 2024 in an online format, bringing together the project partners to discuss the substantive and administrative work to be carried out in the first half of the year.
One of the important outputs of the project is the development of the Kurzeme Region Policy Instrument. The involvement of various stakeholders is of great importance in the revision and updating of this document, therefore for the purpose of the project a stakeholder working group was established, which includes four major national level institutions in the field of mobility (Ministry of Transport, Latvian State Roads, Latvian Railways, Road Transport Directorate), eight local level municipalities of Kurzeme planning region, as well as the Latvian Green Roads Association, taking into account the wide experience of this organisation in the development of green roads and bicycle routes in Latvia. On 27 September 2024, the first meeting of the stakeholder group took place, where the participants were introduced to the project, its activities, but most of the meeting was dedicated to the analysis of the cycling infrastructure and cycling in the Kurzeme region. The discussion part focused on topics such as safe and continuous cycling infrastructure, available financial resources, institutional cooperation, establishment of mobility points and other topics.
With the project’s aim to improve cycling policy in partner regions through exchange events and study visits in partner regions across Europe, the first experience visit to Sopron, Hungary, took place on 1-2 October 2024. The trip was attended by representatives of the Latvian Green Way Association and the Kurzeme Planning Region, as well as a Latvian state road specialist. The content of the first day of the experience trip was closely related to the cross-border situation of multimodal transport in three countries (Hungary, Austria, Slovakia), presenting the experience of the cities of Bratislava (Slovakia) and Budapest (Hungary) in planning and implementing sustainable mobility, including the development of cycling, as well as presenting the transnational work on cross-border mobility in the Bratislava area (the city borders with Austria).
On the second day, there was an opportunity to get acquainted with a national initiative for children and young people (BringásVándor – Explorer Bike Camp) implemented by the Hungarian Cycle Tourism Association, supported by the Hungarian State Secretary and largely funded by the State. Under this initiative, children and young people have the opportunity to participate in a seven-day cycling camp during the summer months and to develop different types of skills (cycling in different weather conditions, bike maintenance, minor bike repairs, travel experience, communication, etc.). To implement this initiative, the Association has a fleet of 1400 bicycles and 200 active guides who accompany the young people. The most important contribution of this initiative is to introduce children and young people to cycling and, in the long term, to change their everyday habits.
In addition to the above, the experience trip provided an opportunity to get acquainted with the CycleRAP methodology for road and cycling infrastructure safety assessment presented by the University of Zagreb and the digital Safer Cycling Routes Toolkit (SCRT) developed within the SABRINA project (Interreg Danube Transnational Programme). Finally, a ~10 km cycle ride was organised to Fertő-Hanság National Park along the EuroVelo 13 cycle route. Here, the project partners were introduced to the cycling offer for people with disabilities, as well as to ecotourism activities for people with disabilities in general.
Project CycleRight is implemented within the frame of INTERREG EUROPE Programme, co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)