Bicycle Lanes to Be Laid in Tbilisi

Tbilisi will soon boast its own cycle paths and infrastructure, enabling riders to safely navigate the city in specifically modified areas.

By the end of the year, the Mayor’s Office of Tbilisi will launch trial routes for cyclists. Construction of the cycle lanes is already in progress.

Eight-kilometer 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 Mtkvari 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 to Freedom Square and a three-kilometer lane will also be finished this year in Digomi, on Mirian Mepe Street.

“The sidewalks and highways are being rebuilt on both sides of Mtkvari River at present,” a representative of the Urban Management Agency say. “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 said.

The founder of the Bicycle Amateurs’ Club in Georgia, Tamaz Tikanadze, has already been moving around the capital by bicycle 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 added, 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 bicycles and a healthy lifestyle in the country. These groups say that the use of bicycles will both help people’s budgets and help protect the environment.

Thea Morrison