Cycling Pearls: the Šumperk Pine Detour

Without knowing the context of their creation, cycle paths that span only a few meters often become the subject of jokes on the internet. Now how did a 60-meter-long path end up in Šumperk? This short cycle path is really a part of a dedicated bike lane leading from Žerotínova to Havlíčkova and, after a few meters of riding outside the main traffic flow, you return from the path onto the bike lane again. This ensures continuous, uninterrupted passage through the cycling infrastructure.

At first glance, the interruption of the bike lane, especially on such a short section, seems pointless. What led the city to build a cycle path instead of continuing the uninterrupted bike lane?

The entire project was initiated in the early 2000s during the reconstruction of Žerotínova and Havlíčkova streets. As the former long-time mayor of Šumperk, Zdeněk Brož (Independent Choice), describes for Městem na kole, the path was created as a detour around a mature pine tree, which prevented the construction of a roadway wide enough to accommodate a bike lane with the same parameters as in the preceding or subsequent sections.

According to the former mayor, the city wanted to avoid cutting down the pine tree or endangering it by having the roadway too close. At that time, there were no other possible solutions for uninterrupted cyclist passage as there are today, such as with an advisory bike lane. However, the chosen solution still occasionally faced criticism or astonishment.

Passage around the pine was thus resolved by this minor cycling detour. The tree later died, but the detour remained in place. Those who do not remember the original reason for its construction can now only guess at it with difficulty.