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How Highways Almost Destroyed Amsterdam - Plan Jokinen

Not Just Bikes · 407.7K views · 2019-10-21 · 3:26

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Overview

A short Not Just Bikes video on the 1960s plans (Plan Jokinen) to cut highways through Amsterdam to accommodate cars. It shows how radically different the city would look had they succeeded.

On Hacker News

HN commenters cite it as a concise illustration of how the Netherlands narrowly avoided car-centric planning and then built its bike culture.

Recommended by 2 HN people across 2 months · HN mentions 2022–2024

Topics

Transit, cities & urban planning
Search by tags
amsterdamhighwayscar-centric designcyclingurbanism

What people said

Tijdreiziger · 2022-07 · Recommendation

Not Just Bikes made an interesting video on the thankfully-avoided plan to build a US-style highway system in Amsterdam: [VIDEO]

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stevesimmons · 2022-01 · Recommendation

I do all those things in Amsterdam. I can get everywhere in Amsterdam much quicker by bike than driving or public transport. Cycling in the rain and snow [2] is no problem, you just need the right gear. What non-Amsterdammers don't realise is the city never used to be a cyclist's paradise. In the 1960s, Amsterdam's car-obsessed urban planners had grand visions to drive motorways through the inner city, razing the historical buildings, and constructing Manhattan-like skyscraper clusters. Here's a 3 minute video "Highways Almost Destroyed Amsterdam" [1] about those plans, the fightback in the 1970s, and the resulting bike culture that Amsterdam has today. Enjoy! [1] [VIDEO] [2] [LINK]

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BadHumans · 2024-03 · Reference

Amsterdam and Paris used to be both be very car dependent. Here is a video about Amsterdam before they shunned cars. [VIDEO]

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Sources

Video by Not Just Bikes, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

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HN Library: HackerTube export (2026-10-31) and open-index/hacker-news. Upstream summaries and classifications may contain AI errors.

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