Skip to main content

Cycle paths for Tbilisi, Georgia





Tbilisi will soon have its own cycle paths and infrastructure, enabling riders to safely navigate the city in designated lanes. By the end of this year, the Mayor’s Office of Tbilisi will launch trial routes for cyclists. Construction of the cycle lanes are already in progress.

Eight-kilometre lanes will be placed on the right and left banks of the Mtkvari River. Cyclists will be able to travel from the Mother Tongue Garden along the right bank of the Mtkvari River and up to Vakhushti Bridge, then down the left bank of the river and back to the Garden.

A second lane will run from Saarbrücken Square (Dry Bridge) to Freedom Square and a three-kilometre lane will also be finished this year in Digomi settlement on Mirian Mepe Street, said representatives of the Urban Management Agency.

“In order to promote cycling, around 20 bicycle parking lots will be set up throughout the city and several more traffic lights will be installed on streets to ensure cyclist safety,” City Hall claims.

Founder of the Bicycle Amateurs’ Club in Georgia, Tamaz Tikanadze, has been cycling around the capital of Tbilisi for four years. He says that at present it is not safe to ride in the streets due to the absence of special lanes and infrastructure. “There are many streets in the capital where lanes could be immediately arranged. The streets and public transport are very busy nowadays and the best solution to this issue is developing bicycle infrastructure,” Tikanadze said.

City Hall’s Transport Service Department says that after laying the first bicycle lanes, they will have a better picture of where other such infrastructure can be arranged, but that the decision to lay bicycle infrastructure should be based on demand.

“Such projects need finances and the Mayor’s Office will make decisions regarding further infrastructure only based on demand from the population,” Mamuka Mumladze from the transport Service Department said.

Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are calling on the government to promote cycling and a healthy lifestyle across the country. They also say that the use of bicycles will help people’s budgets as well as protecting the environment.











MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The acacia thorn trees of Kenya

There are nearly 800 species of acacia trees in the world, and most don’t have thorns. The famous "whistling thorn tree" and the Umbrella Thorn tree of Kenya are species of acacia that do have thorns, or spines. Giraffes and other herbivores normally eat thorny acacia foliage, but leave the whistling thorn alone. Usually spines are no deterrent to giraffes. Their long tongues are adapted to strip the leaves from the branches despite the thorns. The thorny acacia like dry and hot conditions. The thorns typically occur in pairs and are 5-8 centimetres (2-3 inches) long. Spines can be straight or curved depending on the species. MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Suda...

Hop on hop off bus tourism comes to Tbilisi, Georgia

City Sightseeing buses have arrived in Tbilisi. The iconic red double-decker buses, a feature of many cities around the world since the company was established in Seville, Spain in 1999, is now in six continents and almost 100 cities. The company established its Tbilisi business in November 2013, with its operations commencing in February 2014. The 90-minute tour stops at 11 major locations in Tbilisi (with 2 to 5 minute waiting times at each location): the Old City (where it commences), Freedom Square, Rose Revolution Square, Marjanishvili Square, the Dry Bridge, Konka, Avlabari, Metekhi, Akhundov Museum, the Sulfur Baths, and European Square. Passengers can hop off at any stop and see the sights, hopping back onto the next bus at any time. Alternatively, passengers can remain on the bus for the whole tour and take photographs when the bus stops at each location. There are one day (24-hour) passes (for 35 lari – about $20) and 48-hour passes for 55 lari, with family d...

The Knight in the Panther Skin by Shota Rustaveli (2015 translation): book review

The Knight in the Panther Skin (12th century, this edition 2015) is a recent translation by American poet and author, Lyn Coffin. The author, Shota Rustaveli, is Georgia’s most loved poet. This poem is mammoth, a magnum opus – it is 1,656 verses long, separated by chapters. But readers, don’t give up, because every verse is worth reading. It is akin to 1001 Arabian Knights, Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, or Shakespearean poetry. King Rostevan of Arabia has a daughter, Tinatin. She loves the knight Avtandil and he loves her. Verse 368 from Avtandil: ‘The doctor’s could do nothing. A dark twilight on my heart now pressed, I was on fire because of love, but nobody knew or guessed. They blamed my blood. The king decided bleeding my arm would be best; I let it be done to hide the suffering I had not confessed.’ But a knight in panther skin is seen weeping, and subsequently kills the king’s soldiers, sparing the king. Before Tinatin weds Avtandil she r...