On 10 October 2018, the two-day Cycle Highway Academy took place in Leuven. Some 50 bicycle experts from all over Europe came to Leuven to discover the F3 cycle highway between Leuven and Brussels and experienced the Flemish Brabant cycle highway policy.

The Cycle Highway Academy is a European knowledge sharing initiative. This project aims to develop and promote cycle highways as a cost-efficient and sustainable mobility solution, a powerful alternative and even a competitor for motorized transport.

The F3 is a 31-km long cycle highway from Leuven to Brussels. In the spring, the entire route was signposted with the cycle highway logo, making the route very visible. The route is a frequently used commuter route.

'In the spring we placed the bicycle highway logo and the signposting on the entire Flemish Brabant part of the route, with financial support from the European Union (Interreg),' said Tom Dehaene, Deputy for Mobility. 'This logo, a blue triangle with a white F, was developed by the 5 Flemish provinces in 2016 and aims to make the cycle highways more visible and recognizable'.

The European experts experienced how this way of signposting provides cyclists with the necessary comfort to move along the route and how the cycle highways logo contributes to a smooth, safe and comfortable commuter traffic along cycle highways.

This logo project is, at the moment, unique in its kind. Agreements have been made across the provincial boundaries and all Flemish provinces are applying the same signage. Step by step, every route is going to be signposted so that the entire network will eventually be visible and recognizable. Cycle highways will thus become a recognizable mobility product without boundaries.
In addition, the provinces launched a new portal website last year, www.fietssnelwegen.be, where citizens can find all information about cycle highways.

The Cycle Highway Academy is an initiative for knowledge sharing that is part of the European project CHIPS (Cycle Highways Innovation for smarter People Transport and Spatial Planning) of which Flemish Brabant is a partner.