A new cycle link through Husum

The Husum area in the western part of Copenhagen is perceived as a divided neighbourhood due to a roadbarrier between the two residential areas of Husum North with common housing  and Husum South with residential houses. The road structure in Husum eases transport from east to west but it is difficult to travel between north and south.

The Husum link creates an improved interconnecting route for pedestrians and cyclists from the area Tingbjerg in the north past the school to the street Åvendingen in the south. The purpose with improving the infrastructural interconnection between the north and south neighbourhoods is among other things to increase the public use of the existing sports and culture facilities as well as improving the perception of safety for schoolchildren.

The main initiatives are to establish a bridge across the embankment on existing bridge holds and to improve paths for cyclists and pedestrians on minor roads all the way to the street of Åvendingen and under the railways with improved path connections to the Husum Park and Husum School.

The Husum link has a long history, and the citizens have often been promised new initiatives. Therefore, the project has received much attention by both politicians, citizens and users as well as the local elected committee. From the beginning, it was prioritised to create a positive feel about the project and facilitate a constructive public dialogue to ensure that the project was completed with support from the citizens.

Artelia planned the neighbourhood involvement with several public meetings, walks along the link, meetings with different landowner and property owner committees as well as information during the process. The process resulted in some minor changes to the preliminary design project on the basis of some citizens local knowledge and successfully the team managed to create a positive feeling regarding the Husum link.