Conquering the Route Between Neihu and Downtown Taipei—MacArthur Bridge No. 1

Introduction

A little over a week after writing about Dazhi Bridge, the weather was still pretty good, so I found a chance to photograph MacArthur Bridge No. 1—a route I used to take often but have ridden less frequently lately.

First, here are the two earlier posts about crossing bridges by bicycle: Dazhi Bridge and Zhongshan Bridge. These are the two bridges I currently use specifically for commuting.

Conquering the Route Between Neihu and Downtown Taipei—Zhongshan Bridge

Conquering the Route Between Neihu and Downtown Taipei—Dazhi Bridge

Why did I use this bridge often before but ride it less now?

Most of my recent work has been around Taipei Main Station, Ximen, and Wanhua. If I take MacArthur Bridge No. 1 home, a trip that would normally take about an hour and a half can easily become 40 minutes longer.

Put simply, it is a little out of the way XD. I only wanted to turn my commute into exercise along the way; if it adds another 40 minutes, I start thinking I might as well do strength training instead.

So MacArthur Bridge No. 1 is no longer my main commuting route. I am more likely to take it when I need to go near Taipei City Hall, Nangang, or Songshan.

All right, enough preamble—let's get started and see how to travel between downtown Taipei and Neihu via MacArthur Bridge No. 1!

MacArthur Bridge No. 1

After Zhongshan Bridge and Dazhi Bridge, MacArthur Bridge No. 1 is the third bridge I have used fairly often for commuting. As I mentioned, however, the route requires a substantial detour, so it is not my main commuting bridge now.

Why do I call it a detour? Here is the Google Maps route I usually follow from downtown Taipei to MacArthur Bridge No. 1.

Because I usually start at Taipei Main Station, I first ride east along Zhongxiao East Road to Zhongxiao Fuxing, then head from there to Nanjing Fuxing and continue east. Before the road would force me onto MacArthur Bridge No. 1, I find another way over to Minsheng East Road and enter the riverside park through a floodgate.

You might be wondering, ‘Wait, aren't we trying to get onto MacArthur Bridge No. 1? Why take a detour?’

The answer has to do with the bridge's structure. Later, when I show you where its bicycle ramp is, it will become clearer why we need to take this longer route.

That is also why I do not particularly enjoy taking MacArthur Bridge No. 1 XDDD—unless I am genuinely in the mood for extra exercise and scenery that day.

Once inside the riverside park, ride toward MacArthur Bridge No. 1. After crossing the bridge, continue to the exit at Neihu Sports Park.

I know that description alone does not make the route easy to understand, so below I will use plenty of photos to show exactly where to ride and explain the structural problem that makes this detour necessary.

Let's begin!

Our eventual goal is Minsheng East Road, so you may wonder why I do not simply ride east on Minsheng East Road from the start and instead make Nanjing East Road my main route.

From my experience, Nanjing East Road feels much more bicycle-friendly. Nearly every section has a dedicated bike lane, and the sidewalks are wide enough that pedestrians are less likely to spill into the bike lane because their own path is difficult to use.

The bike lane is not always perfectly straight—it may bend here and there—so just stay alert.

How far should you keep riding? I think that once you have passed Nanjing Sanmin MRT Station, it is about time to start looking for a street where you can turn left.

If you are riding in the same direction as traffic, you will see the entrance to Nanjing Sanmin MRT Station. After passing it, start looking for a suitable left turn.

The left turn begins a fairly long connection down to Minsheng East Road, so I choose different streets depending on my mood.

Sometimes I take Sanmin Road as shown on the earlier map. On this ride, I turned onto Dongxing Road, then followed Lane 325 of Jiankang Road, Yanshou Street, and finally Xindong Street. It really depends on my mood.

Any of these routes is fine when conditions are good; there is no major restriction. Still, be careful: some streets do not have good bike lanes, and there can be less lighting at night, which makes them more dangerous.

In the photo above, you can see the bridge beginning on the right. Once you ride past that point, you will be too far from the floodgate we need, so I strongly recommend turning left before this intersection.

After crossing the road, continue a short distance and you will soon reach a street where you can turn left. I recommend walking your bicycle here because the sidewalk has no bike lane and you would be moving against the direction of traffic; walking avoids interfering with pedestrians.

As you continue, MacArthur Bridge No. 1 will appear on your right, confirming that you are on the correct route.

So where should you turn left? On this ride, I chose Baoqing Street. Here is what the turn looks like.

I used to pass this street fairly often because it has an excellent stone hot pot restaurant called Little Cranberry XDD. I could not stop thinking about it after my first visit, but I have never managed to find more friends to go with me.

I found this section fairly easy to ride. There are not many cars, so even without a dedicated bike lane it did not feel especially dangerous to me.

That said, very few people are around late at night, so I would not recommend coming this way then.

Keep in mind that Baoqing Street becomes Lane 325 of Jiankang Road as you continue.

Jiankang Road cannot take you straight through to Minsheng East Road, even though the two roads are perpendicular. The farthest you can go is Yanshou Street.

I once got slightly lost at Yanshou Street. Based on how I understood the map, I thought I could continue straight to Tayou Road and be close to the floodgate entrance, so I turned right.

Only when I reached Tayou Road did I realize that the floodgate we needed was actually very far away.

I therefore recommend continuing as far as Minsheng East Road before turning onto Tayou Road.

How do you continue from Yanshou Street? After turning left onto Yanshou Street, I ride to Xindong Street and follow it down to Minsheng East Road.

There is no complicated reason—I can simply take a short break here because Xindong Street has lots of food.

Once you reach Minsheng East Road, there is nothing complicated: just keep riding east.

The photo above also shows why I chose Nanjing East Road instead of Minsheng East Road earlier: Minsheng East Road truly does not have a dedicated bicycle lane here.

Continue along Minsheng East Road and you will reach Tayou Road. This is where we enter the riverside park through the floodgate!

The entrance is diagonally ahead on the right, so I recommend crossing at this intersection first, then turning right and continuing forward.

There are usually not many pedestrians along this stretch. Turn left at the second street and the floodgate entrance will come into view.

If you need to search for the entrance on the spot, look up ‘Keelung River Floodgate No. 5’ to confirm the location.

Once through the floodgate, you are on a broad riverside bicycle path. Because we are heading to MacArthur Bridge No. 1 today, turn right after entering.

As you ride along the path, you will see MacArthur Bridge No. 2 first and MacArthur Bridge No. 1 afterward.

I have not researched whether MacArthur Bridge No. 2 has a dedicated bicycle route. I have seen many experienced riders use the scooter lane, but riding among scooters across a bridge feels dangerous to me. I specifically choose bridges where bicycles and motor vehicles can stay separate, so I did not take MacArthur Bridge No. 2.

The riverside bike path toward MacArthur Bridge No. 1 is comfortable to ride, and the nearby sports courts keep the area well lit.

Lots of people exercise here. The latest I have ridden this section was around 8 p.m.; I do not know how dark it becomes later.

After MacArthur Bridge No. 1 comes into view, keep riding and start looking for its bicycle ramp. Fortunately, bridge ramps are usually easy to spot when they exist.

Once we are on the ramp, I can finally explain why this route requires such a large detour instead of simply riding to the east end of Nanjing East Road and getting onto the bridge there.

As the photo above shows, the connection outside the riverside park has stairs but no matching bicycle ramp. If you ride straight to the end of Nanjing East Road and try to enter MacArthur Bridge No. 1 directly, you have to carry your bicycle.

There is absolutely no way I can carry a YouBike Orz. That is why I reluctantly take such a long detour—and why MacArthur Bridge No. 1 is not my favorite way home to Neihu.

On MacArthur Bridge No. 1, the bicycle and pedestrian space is separated from motor traffic, so you do not have to worry as much about sharing a vehicle lane. The bridge path is also wide enough to pause and enjoy the view when you get tired.

The night view will put you in a good mood!

Near the far end of the bridge, you will reach the descent. Because of the bridge's design, leaving the bridge and exiting the riverside area directly would require carrying your bike down stairs. I always take the bicycle ramp into the riverside park instead and find another exit from there.

The ramp from MacArthur Bridge No. 1 leads into a parking lot at Rainbow Riverside Park. There can be many cars here, so ride carefully, although it is usually quieter at night.

Inside the park, you can choose among several bicycle paths. We are heading for the Neihu Sports Park exit, so after coming down from MacArthur Bridge No. 1, pass beneath MacArthur Bridge No. 2 and then Minquan Bridge before reaching the exit we need.

At the time of this ride, the bicycle path closer to the river beneath Minquan Bridge was under construction and could not be used, so I had to take the path farther from the river on the way back.

Continue riding and you will finally see the exit for this trip—what a relief.

This exit is distinctive because it uses a spiral bicycle ramp, probably because there was not enough room for a long straight ramp when it was built.

I find this ramp fairly tall and long, so I walk my bicycle for nearly the entire climb. To be honest, I walk my bike on every ramp; I mainly want to avoid a collision.

Another special feature is the observation deck at the top, where you can rest, plus a footbridge that you can ride across. Its romantic lighting makes this a surprisingly good date spot.

The first time I saw this footbridge, I was completely amazed XD. After later seeing more pedestrian-and-bicycle bridges such as Rainbow Bridge, however, it began to feel a little less unusual.

If I get the chance, I will write another post introducing Rainbow Bridge.

Still, this footbridge feels a little like a first love XDDD, so I will always remember how amazed I was the first time I saw it.

How do you leave Neihu Sports Park? I usually keep riding toward Jiuzong Road until I see another bicycle-ramp entrance.

This is another spiral ramp with one turn, but it is neither very high nor very long. At the top, it leads directly onto Section 2 of Jiuzong Road.

From there, choose your direction depending on whether you are going toward Gangqian MRT Station or the cluster of big-box stores such as IKEA. And with that, we have successfully completed our trip across MacArthur Bridge No. 1!

Conclusion

As I said earlier, MacArthur Bridge No. 1 adds a substantial detour to my trip home because I do not want to carry my bicycle and prefer a bridge that feels safer to me.

But if you need more distance for a casual cycling challenge and also have a commute to complete, I think this ride adds a worthwhile number of kilometers.

There are also plenty of places to browse along the way, whether on Nanjing East Road or among the small shops in the Minsheng Community. I think it makes a good urban sightseeing route.

That is all for this post! I hope it answered your questions about crossing MacArthur Bridge No. 1 by bicycle : ). See you in the next article—wave!