The city condal dismisses the month of February with the idea of renovating some spaces to make them more passable. A new step in your model of urbanism.
Barcelona faces the renovation of several of its great avenues. With the aim of making space for pedestrians and limiting the use of private vehicles, streets and spaces change design.
The future project of the Rambla is one of those spaces. An emblematic boulevard that wants to be completely renovated. In the high zone, avenues like the street Balmes will expel to all vehicles of the sidewalks.
Reforms that coincide with a new stage in the expansion of the cycle lanes network. Announced shortly to confirm the arrival of the tram to Avda Diagonal.
All these are projects promise to give a turn to the mobility of Barcelona. Will the city be prepared for this new urbanism?
A new Rambla for Barcelona
The consistory of Barcelona has called an international competition to redevelop the Rambla and return it to the neighbors of the city. This emblematic walk receives annually the visit of 100 million people. And 80% of the tourists travel on their trips, sometimes gaining ground to Barcelona’s own.
A multidisciplinary team wants to develop the first project, related to mobility, tourism, cultural heritage and public space management. From this work will be designed the final urbanization whose responsible will be announced in the summer of 2017.
The final design will be presented in autumn 2018 so that the works start at the beginning of 2019. The contest will have a budget close to 900,000 euros, not including the work management.
On the horizon there is a greater pedestrianization of the Rambla, which at the moment does not pretend to expel the cars but to take away space.
Urban planning in the Eixample
The complicated coexistence between pedestrians and obstacles on the sidewalks of Balmes street has been taking place for years.
A new initiative of the Barcelona City Council proposes to make space for the pedestrian, removing motorcycles from the sidewalks.
The initial proposal would be limited to the stretch between Plaza Molina and General Miter Round. Measure that would remove a lane to the traffic of vehicles to destine it to the parking of bikes.
This would make it possible to make one of the most important streets of the Sant Gervasi-Galvany district more passable.
Up to 62 new km of bike path
The Barcelona City Council wants to make more bike space in 2017 than in any other year: 62.5 km.
Construction of 30 new bike lanes will increase the current network by 44%. This is a new stage in the bet on the two wheels, next to the so-called bicycle ‘hub’.
The final objective is to reach the 308 km of bike lanes in 2018. From the beginning of the last term has passed from 116 to 141 km. 20% more.
While the number of journeys on two wheels has grown by only 14% in 2016.
Moderating pollution levels in Barcelona, tripling the space for bicycles, is among the objectives of all these measures.
