WikiProject Luxembourg/Cycle Route Network

National Cycle Route Network (Pistes Cyclables)

The official National Cycle Route Network of Luxembourg is described on the web page of Administration des Ponts et Chaussees. Unfortunately, the maps of the routes are only available as PDF files and not very detailed. Sometimes, the routes are marked with the planned ways, but not with the real ones. (Riding the Piste Cyclable PC11 the map took me with my bike to a dead end way in a wood...).

Up to now all routes are created as relations in their real course. The network is still developing (the Administration is adding new route segments from time to time) so we have to add these segments in OSM as well. The profile picture of the route was created with the Garmin software MapSource using the GPS-tracks.

Regional Cycle Routes

The regional cycle routes in luxembourg are defined and maintained by the communes. Therefore we don#t have a complete index of theses routes. There are a lot of regional maps available - we have to buy them, make the tour and let the GPS work! - Then we can create the relations (and the underlying ways, if necessary) in OSM and add the routes with their profiles here.

Cycle Routes in Luxembourg-City

The City of Luxembourg published a concept of new cycling routes and other infrastructural enhancements for cycling in the capital of Luxembourg in 2007. It is planned to designate 14 main and 15 additional cycling routes. Furthermore there will be constructed bicycle parkings in the area of Luxembourg City.

The introduction of the new bicycle rental system "vel´oH" (Official Website) enforced the importance of a suitable cycle route network.

The table below lists the currently fully marked cycle routes in Luxembourg-City.

Cycling on roads

The road network of Luxembourg is tagged using the following scheme (motorways are not considered as bicycles are not allowed to ride there):

There are three kinds of roads where a bicycle can be used (see also here):

• Usage of the roads together with the cars without road marking.
• A cycle lane is marked on the road, but the lane is not constructional separated.
• The cycle way is constructional separated from the road.

The tagging should follow these rules:

The tag cycleway=lane should only be used if there is a real marking on the road. (We have currently too many lane tags in the OSM database!). The example photo shows a typical marking along the National Cycle Network (Pistes Cyclables) - this is not a lane!

Cycling on tracks

Tracks are tagged with highway=track, the surface is defined with tracktype=* and the values with grade1..grade5. Tracks are broad enough for cars, footways (highway=footway) and paths (highway=path) are not, for details look here.

The track type is important for cycle routing, it should be tagged very carefully.

In the table are listed the different track types with examples in the real world and on the GPS device display (map by OpenFietsMap):

Cycling on paths

Paths are small ways not suitable for cars (tag: highway=path) and mostly outside of residential areas, footways are mainly for pedestrians (tag: highway=footway), if cyclists are allowed, the paths have to be tagged with bicycle=yes. If path is designated for cyclists, use bicycle=designated

Cycle ways

Dedicated cycle ways are tagged with highway=cycleway. In Luxembourg, we have a lot of paved tracks, where cars are prohibited (photo). In addition there are some former railway lines, which are superbly prepared for cycling (you can find more information here in German).

Cycle ways are rendered as red lines in OpenFietsMap.

Cycling on oneway roads

In Luxembourg-City, cycle lanes have been added on many roads during the last 2, 3 years. A lot of these roads are oneway roads, but permit cyclists to go in the opposite direction (sometimes sharing the bus lanes). This leads to quite complex tagging. I propose the main tagging techniques in the table below:

Some advice to help you decide between : highway=cycleway or highway=track/tertiary/unclassified?

A cycle way should only be tagged as highway=cycleway when it is explicitly closed to cars, or it is too narrow for them. Moreover, a minor road or track with a sealed surface (asphalt, concrete) should be tagged as highway=track with tracktype=grade1 and surface=*. In the case of a road or track which is open to cars but is not part of the official road network (N/CR), this should be tagged highway=tertiary or highway=unclassified

National Cycle Route Network (network=ncn)

The official names of the routes of the Luxemburgish National Cycle Route Network are explained in detail on the website of the Administration des Ponts et Chaussees.

The tagging scheme of this national cycle network should be as follows: