Emergent Bicycle Infrastructure During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Karamanli Avenue Pop-Up Cycle Lane in Thessaloniki, Greece

Abstract

Lockdown measures aimed to contain the COVID-19 pandemic brought about an unexpected surge in bicycle ridership in many cities around the world. In Greece, a Ministry of Environment and Energy decision, issued in June 2020, prescribed the technical specifications for local authorities regarding the provision of temporary cycle lanes. In this paper, we examine how this opportunity for increasing bicycle ridership played out in the Municipality of Thessaloniki. We focus on the case of a pop-up cycle lane placed along a major arterial road, Karamanli Avenue, in an attempt to shed light to the reasons for the ‘failure’ of the cycle lane that finally led to its cancellation, eighteen months after construction, in February 2022. In the first part, we evaluate the design of the cycle lane both at the macro- and meso-scale (connectivity, accessibility, placement) and the micro-scale (design choices regarding geometry, materials, signage). In the second part, we present users’ opinions about the intervention collected through a questionnaire survey as well as bicycle traffic volumes during the pandemic. Combining these sources, we attempt to identify strengths, weaknesses, and gaps in the process of the creation of the Karamanli cycle lane and to propose design recommendations.