A crash renews calls for cycle path after 40-year wait
Friday 23rd October 2026 on 12:31 in
Denmark
Heidi Sørensen was hit by a car while cycling to work on a route without a cycle path, DR reports, renewing residents’ long-running campaign for safer access between Smidstrup and Hvalsø.
Sørensen was riding from the village of Smidstrup to her job in Hvalsø at about 6 a.m. when the car struck her. She ended up in a ditch with a black eye, a broken elbow and a damaged bicycle. The car drove on after the collision, her husband, Pierre Michael Jean Bjerre, said.
Between Smidstrup and Hvalsø, cyclists share the road with cars. Karen Myhre, who campaigns for a cycle path, said residents are often struck by wing mirrors. Sørensen usually walks her bicycle along the stretch in poor weather or when visibility is low, but had not done so that morning.
Myhre still drives her 13-year-old daughter to school in Hvalsø, less than two kilometres away. She takes the girl’s bicycle in the car so she can ride home after midday, when traffic is lighter. The girl often walks instead, Myhre said, because she can step onto the verge if cars come too close.
Myhre said her family was told a cycle path was planned when they moved to Smidstrup five years ago. Residents have campaigned for one for more than 40 years, with efforts intensifying in 2018 through the Facebook group Cykelsti til Smidstrup NU. The group has put up signs and approached politicians during budget negotiations.
Holbæk Municipality set aside 6.5 million kroner for its share of the project in September 2025. Lejre Municipality has now earmarked 2.65 million kroner, according to Henrik Bech Hjortbøl, the municipality’s head of traffic. The two municipalities met for the first time on Tuesday, October 20, to discuss building the path between Smidstrup and Hvalsø.
Earlier plans for a longer path between Stestrup and Smidstrup were never funded, and Myhre said she would only be convinced once construction begins. She also warned that the planned stretch will not address safety concerns for residents of nearby Tingerup and Stestrup who travel to Hvalsø for school, shopping and trains.