Children ride through the Fyllingsdalen tunnel in Bergen, Norway, in June.
Photographer: Sergei Gapon/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Secrets of the World’s Coolest Bike Tunnel
Norway’s Fyllingsdalen tunnel is a showstopping piece of urban cycling infrastructure — for a city where car-centric development still dominates.
History buffs know the Norwegian city of Bergen as a hub of the legendary Hanseatic League, which dominated Northern European commerce as far back as the 1300s. Nestled in a fjord-laden spot along the North Sea, the “City Between the Seven Mountains” offers breathtaking vistas (and lures boatloads of tourists).
Bergen’s most recent attraction is a unique one: In April, the city of around 270,000 opened the Fyllingsdalen tunnel, a three-kilometer bike-pedestrian pathway that was bored through a mountain. Local officials proudly declared Fyllingsdalen tunnel to be “the world’s longest purpose-built cycling tunnel.” (The Snoqualmie tunnel in Washington State is lengthier, but it used to be rail line.)