Biking the Netherlands

I have never seen so many bikes in my life. Every single person in Maastricht has to own a bike. I talked to a man yesterday and he told me there are more bikes in the Netherlands than people. It's not hard to believe after you have seen as many bikes as we've seen. We are not even to Amsterdam yet which is the bike riding capital of the world. Each one of the streets in Maastricht has some sort of bike lane. Even in the busier intersections that are roundabouts the bikes have their own lane. These streets are beautifully engineered to accommodate for the vehicle, the bike, and the pedestrian. The streets are also made of cobblestone that will last practically forever. Instead of paint to separate the streets lines they use different flat work patterns made of different stones. Our engineers in the United States need to come take note on how well these streets function. They are not dangerous for any of the three users using them. They are complete streets other than the fact that they are not collecting stormwater runoff and cleasing it through stormwater BMPs. These streets are made from sustainable materials and will last for a very long time compared to the asphalt we replace every 9 years in the United States.