Bicycle state standards have been developed in Ukraine

For the first time, Ukraine has developed state standards for planning and designing bicycle infrastructure, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has announced. The DSTU was developed by the State Road Research Institute at the request of the Kyiv Cyclists Association with the support of ULEAD with Europe.

The standards contain general provisions on the planning of bicycle paths and bicycle infrastructure, sections on its design on streets, roads and intersections of settlements, as well as outside them. The bicycle DSTU also contains requirements for the design and operation of bicycle infrastructure and parking spaces.

The draft cycling DSTU must be approved by the national standardization body, the state enterprise Ukrainian Research and Training Center for Standardization, Certification and Quality.

The DSTU should:

• establish a unified methodological framework for planning and designing bicycle infrastructure. This will improve safety;
• help relieve congestion on roads and streets, improve road safety, and reduce the negative environmental impact of road transport (especially in urban areas)
• fill in the legislative gap and help implement the developed bicycle network plans in different cities of Ukraine.

The standards were developed as part of the Green Light for Cycling in Hromadas project. The project is being implemented by the Kyiv Cyclists Association with the support of the U-LEAD with Europe: Ukraine - Local Empowerment, Accountability and Development Program, co-funded by the European Union and its member states Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Poland and Sweden.

In October 2019, the state-owned enterprise Ukrainian Research and Training Center for Standardization, Certification and Quality approved state standards for bicycle infrastructure, which came into force on October 1, 2020.

On September 1, 2018, new state construction standards for the design of streets and roads in settlements came into force in Ukraine, which introduced the possibility of narrowing the width of traffic lanes on roads, made it mandatory to arrange safety islands at unregulated crossings, arrange bicycle lanes, and install special protective fences at public transport stops.

Ігор Льов