Median bicyle lanes

Median bicyle lanes

Bicycle lanes in Germany are positioned to the right of the cars, but why? It wasn’t always this way.
When the medieval alleyways became too narrow for the increasing horse traffic, cities were rigorously redesigned. Broad boulevards were created, particularly in major metropolises. Elevated walkways were built on the left and the right of the street, so that pedestrians no longer had to trudge through horse droppings. At the beginning of the 19th century, granite slabs for horses were also fixed in the middle of the road. As cycling became popular in cities, bicycles largely took over the center of the street (Hamburg model), but were increasingly pushed aside by emergence of trams (as seen in Magdeburg). Though Hamburg inspired Copenhagen, the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP) ultimately decided that all cycling lanes would be positioned on the right side of the road. (1)