Considered one of Europe's two "bicycle capitals" along with Amsterdam, Copenhagen  counts more bicycles than people and cycling is so popular that its numerous bike paths can become crowded. Two-wheeler traffic jams are especially regular on the main Noerrebrogade road used by around 36,000 cyclists a day. "You have to elbow your way in to go forward and some cyclists aren't always thoughtful," complains 22-year-old university student Lea Bresell. The creation of bike highways "comes right on time", says Danish Cyclist Federation Spokesman Frits Bredal. "Copenhagen's roads are overloaded with people who want to ride their bicycles in all kinds of weather," he says. "If in the 1960s Danes viewed the car as the symbol of freedom, the bicycles have supposed that role today," Bredal says. "It's a  _ of transportation used by all social classes, even politicians ride bikes," he says. It is on crowded Noerrebrogade--the busiest bicycle street in Europe, according to the cyclist association--that city planners have decided to build the first of Copenhagen's environmentally friendly roads. The jammed bike paths will be widened up to four metres on either side of the road, which itself will be reserved for bikes only. The idea is to make Noerrebrogade "Europe's great cycling street", says Andreas Roehl, Copenhagen government's bicycle program manager who is also known as "Mr. Bike". But Roehl is not content with making life easier for Copenhagen's inner-city cyclists: He wants to get suburbanites  out of their cars and onto two wheels as well. His goal is to hike the percentage of suburban commuters cycling to and from the city from the 37 percent it is today to 50 percent by 2015. Why does Copenhagen plan to build the first bike highway?
Because bike highways are environmentally friendly. Because it's a part of the city's development program. Because the inner-city commuters urge that it should be built. Because too many bicycles cause the paths to be crowded.