Thessaloniki, Greece’s second-largest city, is taking bold steps toward a greener, more sustainable urban environment. With rising traffic congestion and an increasing demand for healthier, active transport options, the city has built cycling infrastructure to encourage new users to shift to this mode of transport. LanePatrol assessed 13km of Thessaloniki’s cycling network (13 km), characterising and assessing these urban facilities’ risk levels.
A digital twin of the cycling network
The project in Thessaloniki started with a baseline assessment of the current cycling network. The Lane Patrol mobile app collected thousands of geolocated images across the facilities. These images were analysed based on 42 different parameters, such as lane width, intersections, and delineation. The results were displayed on a city dashboard, which produced a digital twin of the cycling network.
This digital twin showcased the current conditions and allowed planners to visualise different future scenarios. The city’s urban planners could now experiment with various configurations of cycle lanes and bus lanes, seeing in real time how each option would impact road safety and usability for cyclists.
Overview “Widen the Facility Scenario”
New challenges occur on important roads in the city of Thessaloniki without specific cycling facilities such as Via Egnatia which is currently dominated by motorised traffic. On this type of roads there’s a big potential to reclaim space for cyclists, pedestrians, and public transport, enhancing the quality of life for residents while reducing the carbon footprint.
Detail of a 10-metre section where the “Instal Traffic Calming” treatment is suggest
To make informed decisions, Thessaloniki needs a data-driven solution to analyse the existing infrastructure and simulate the impact of potential changes. The before-and-after simulations generated by Lane Patrol offered Thessaloniki’s decision-makers an unprecedented tool to forecast the outcomes of their plans. These simulations provided a clear picture of the safety performance of different designs, ensuring that future infrastructure prioritizes both safety and comfort. The results helped highlight areas where immediate improvements were needed, such as upgrading road delineation or introducing light segregation between cars and cyclists to reduce risks.
By leveraging CycleRAP’s 25 different treatments, Thessaloniki can now move forward with a plan that promotes active transport and public transit, while minimising the space allocated to private cars. These treatments range from infrastructure upgrades to designing safer intersections for cyclists, all aimed at creating a more connected, safer, and sustainable urban environment.
