The Technion in Haifa, the essence of excellence, technology and progress - but try to navigate it by bicycle ◄ Yonatan Gershon

At the Technion, they worked hard on comfort for the vehicles - the cyclists were pushed out of the space • Watch the attached video

If there is a place where the city of Haifa should start its investment in bicycle infrastructure, then there is no better public to start with than students. Riding helps students at a time when they are still looking to save money on unnecessary expenses and saves time and fines for parking on campus. Regarding the port campus, I commented in another article, this time I will focus on the Technion, which is in a convenient location for riding from a relatively flat station. But, if you thought that studying at the Technion was a nightmare, try riding to the Technion by bike. It's not just an unpleasant ride, it's a real danger.

So that you understand what this is all about, we have prepared a video for you that Shai Rothbard, a student in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Technion, took while riding to campus (editing and narration: Yonatan Gershon)

Cycling to the Technion - this is what it looks like ◄ Watch

Less and less accessible

What is particularly disturbing is that over the years the Technion is becoming less and less accessible to cyclists and this is mainly expressed in the new entrance gate to the Technion, which highlights above all, the focus on the private car while putting cyclists at risk.

Noam Lavi, a student at the Technion, says: "Regarding the Nosh gate, it used to be simpler to enter from the left side of the gate - but today there is a pulley there and it is no longer possible. In any case, the traffic on this axis was dense on the sidewalk, and dangerous on the road. Today, even when you pass the gate, there is no connection between the end of the Rifkin dormitory and the main promenade.'

"There's no way around the bike"

It should be noted that when preparing the article, we approached dozens of students who ride bicycles to the Technion, and the main complaint that was heard over and over again was regarding the entrance gate. Before the construction of the new gate, there were two lanes for vehicles and cyclists would enter through a checkpoint to the left of the bridge, but today the sign "No pass for bicycles" is displayed instead. The students are forced to squeeze between the three vehicle lanes while showing a student card to the security guards, then pass through two entrance gates for vehicles that may fall on their heads, as you can see in the video.

Design the environment for people

To also ask the opinion of the faculty, we turned to Prof. Daniel Orenstein from the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning.

Prof. Orenstein: "There is no doubt that the planning at the Technion in relation to transportation is mainly for the convenience of drivers. In relation to the Neve Shanan gate, the entrance makes it really difficult for pedestrians to enter, as much as it allows a quick and convenient entry for car drivers. Instead of entering the campus directly, pedestrians have to walk a long and winding route - If there are ups and downs. Also, the design is not suitable for cyclists, as I hear from students. Many years ago, the central pedestrian street on campus was also a road, with cars parked on the sides. Then they closed the center of the campus to cars and created the most beautiful and successful environments on campus . Today, the pedestrian walkway is the central axis of the campus, which connects many of the faculties, provides space for rest and events, and creates a protected, comfortable, calm area without the constant noise and pollution coming from cars and trucks. This change is an excellent example that shows that the campus can be designed not for cars, but for people."

The trouble for the riders is just beginning

So it seems that there is no dispute about the need to change the entrance gate to the Technion and that in the past the Technion even knew how to take out the vehicles and give the space to the public. But back to today, the troubles for cyclists don't just end at the NUS gate. If you continue to ride your bike after the gate, you can reach the only bike path on campus, which is simply a road for supply and operation vehicles, which today, in addition, is also half a bike path and half a walking path, but only when it is not occupied by trucks and vehicles that sometimes park in the center and block the way.

riding on the roads

When you reach the end of the path, you will find that you have reached the back entrance to the Faculty of Computer Science, but not the main campus avenue that leads to the main campus buildings, so many students ride on the campus roads instead of the bike path.

This is what Eitan Schoenberg wrote to us: "I travel from Ramot Ramez several times a week. The only path at the Technion starts at a barrier that blocks almost the entire path and leads to nowhere (in the middle of a parking lot) and it doesn't help me anyway, because I reach another part of the campus. Of course, we need more paths and it's important that they are shaded!"

One bright spot does exist and that is the bicycle parking facilities spread out in many places on campus. But as for this matter, Daniel Kessler commented and wrote to us:
"Also in terms of bicycle facilities on campus... many of them are occupied with bicycles that are not in use. In general, there are places, such as the central library for example, that do not have facilities for bicycles, or 'alman' where it is impossible to put the bicycles there because of too much traffic, it is desirable to add facilities"

The road to the campus is life-threatening

The road to the Technion from Manoesh on the Trumpeldor axis, Komoi and MLL is also very unsafe. As well as the road from Levels Remez along Internationale and Ehud Yaari which are the main roads that the students we talked to mentioned. Bicycle infrastructure on these axes will provide safe cycling routes and encourage arrival by bicycle to the campus. However, the lack of bicycle infrastructure is not only expressed by encouraging more people to use private cars, but by a life-threatening situation that may end up in a night of hospital admission, as Doron Bahar, a student at the Technion, told us:

Cyclists at the bottom of the pyramid

The cyclists to the Technion are the people who take up the least space on the road and the least space in the parking lot. Encouraging the use of bicycles can help reduce the load of vehicles at the Technion gates and reduce the difficult parking situation. In the western world they have already realized that adding lanes only increases the demand for private vehicles and are turning to the trend of making the space accessible to pedestrians and cyclists. But while the Technion is breaking ground in every scientific field - in everything related to clean transportation and urban planning, it seems that it is actually stepping backwards.

In planning the main gate, it is evident that the Technion saw before their eyes mainly the many workers who come in their private cars. The students who walk are sent to meander through the passage on the bridge, baking in the hot sun or getting wet in the rain, and the cyclists find themselves squeezed between the vehicles. It is amazing to see how the very institution where city planning is taught, an institution that could have been a pioneer and served as an example of progressive urbanism in Haifa, is actually a sign of urban failure when it gives preference to the private car and pushes riders out of the space.

So what can you do?

The Technion can make a 180 degree change and be the pioneer to bring proper bicycle infrastructure to Haifa and strengthen the clean and healthy cycling culture. Every additional cyclist that the Technion encourages means less parking difficulties, less traffic jams in the morning and less air and noise pollution.

The Technion responded:

"At the Technion there is a central bicycle path that connects the Neve Shaanan gate with the heart of the campus via the entrance bridge. One of the main goals in the construction of the new bridge was to maintain the safety of pedestrians and cyclists, through a level separation that completely prevents vehicles entering and leaving the campus from meeting each other. We are aware that this solution slightly lengthens the road, but the gain in terms of safety undoubtedly justifies it.

Further to this, the claim (in the video) that the bridge is only intended for pedestrians and not for bicycles is incorrect. The bridge is available to cyclists, and they do use it. Furthermore, cyclists are not supposed to pass under the bridge together with the cars, and this is due to the great risk already mentioned earlier. The bike path on the bridge was designed to connect to Haifa's urban bike paths. These trails are the responsibility of the municipality and unfortunately have not yet been implemented.

The Technion campus is built on a mountain, and as such it has sharp slopes, arising from the nature of the natural surface, and in many places - legally - limiting the possibility of allocating a bicycle path due to the slope. In milder places, the Technion prepared paved bicycle roads. As for the entrance from Shaar Nesher - there the ascent is too steep for a bicycle path in terms of the existing regulations.

In conclusion, we would like to emphasize that the surveys conducted by the Technion and the Student Union show that most students do not move around the campus and to it by bicycle and that they prefer to get to the campus by car or public transportation, and move around on foot or by shuttle bus. Because traveling in and around the Technion by bicycle is too difficult and challenging for most users (in light of the steep slope), we also see in the surveys a low demand for the allocation of bicycle lanes at the expense of other infrastructure.

We should point out that in order to prepare a bicycle path adjacent to the road under the bridge, a "bite" of 5 meters is required from the total width of the road, which is impractical and will harm the movement of vehicles, including the many buses entering the campus.''

And in response to response... I should point out that out of dozens of students who contacted us, they all said that according to their knowledge, entry through the bridge is prohibited for bicycles and they all ride through the road under the bridge. In addition, before preparing the article I stood for half an hour at the Technion gate and all the cyclists who passed through the gate were traveling on a road. If no one uses the infrastructure that was built for cyclists to use, then there is probably a problem with the infrastructure.

Regarding the issue of gradients, in the document "Master plan for bicycle commuting in the city of Haifa" approved in 2019 (link at the end of the article) there are plans for bicycle paths in the Technion, which have been approved by architects, senior officials of the municipality and the Yaffa Nof company. In addition, the program presents examples of bicycle infrastructure solutions from mountainous places in the world. Also, most of the Technion's central boulevard is level and the sloping areas can be connected by installing a bicycle rail next to the stairs, for the purpose of moving the bicycles between the levels, as is done in other mountainous places in the world.

"I want to ride my bicycle"

Regarding the Technion's claim of a lack of demand for bicycle infrastructure, a quote from the 'Master plan for cycling in the city of Haifa':
"In a study conducted at the Technion among the student population, 35% of the respondents answered that they would switch to cycling to get to the Technion if a convenient infrastructure was built for this.".