Odense

I spent most of my time in Odense recovering from the biking and socializing of the previous week. For that reason, I did not ride my bike. My first impressions of the city was that it was very quiet and not a lot of bicycle traffic. It seemed like they had similar infrastructure to Copenhagen, just on a lesser scale. Although they had similar population, it was hard for me to compare Odense to Eugene. Since I didn't bike, I didn't leave the downtown core, but Odense seemed much more dense. It didn't feel like something that could be translated to Eugene because of the number of single family homes we have. Additionally, I think that Eugene lacks a strong downtown core. When I have family or friends visit Eugene, I don't know where to take them to "see" the town. We have the downtown area, but there is no consolidated section for shopping, dining, and gathering. I've taken visitors to the 5th Street Market but it's small and we can cover the whole area in 30 minutes. In Odense, they have strong pedestrian plazas that seem to be a destination. It also seems that most parking garages are underground in Denmark. It seems like a something U.S. cities could do more of. Underground garages don't take away parking spaces and keep the city free from blocks of parking lots. I think Eugene could look to Odense in their construction of the light rail. Construction being in 2018 and opened in June 2022. The line has 26 stations with an end-to-end journey time of 42 minutes with departures every eight minutes. When meeting with the City of Odense traffic planner, she said the first week ridership was free. Since then, she has seen the light rail be about half full. I think Odense will see a gradual increase in ridership as time goes on. Many people are on holidays right now and school is out for the summer. Additionally, a change in transit habits may take longer to catch on. The open lines are part of phase 1 of the project with additional stages proposed for the future. I think Eugene could learn from the Odense light rail project. Eugene is fairly grid-like in its design which could be a great opportunity for a light rail. We all know that university parking is difficult and pricy. With a light rail, students could get around Eugene and not need a car. If the line went to shopping hubs, downtown, and a green space, students could access most things they need. The Peach Health bikeshare or soon-to-be scooters could fill in any gaps in the system. I think there is greater appeal to riding a light rail than a bus. We could replace the EMX with a light rail. Odense used car traffic lanes to build the light rail track and then added in grass between the rails. Not only did this remove a lane of car traffic, but it created additional opportunities for green space. 


Source:  https://www.cowi.com/about/news-and-press/after-10-years-of-work-odense-light-rail-is-finally-opening 


Also, check out this great stair/ramp design! 




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