Approved the proposal to connect the Diagonal by the tram to relegate the car to the background. The future of mobility passes through the Barcelona tramway.
The idea of ??passing the tram on the Diagonal, raised by the Barcelona City Council, receives the approval of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (ATM).
This proposal, not without controversy, proposes to limit the traffic of the private vehicle exclusively to the sides of the great avenue of Barcelona.
The informative study approved by ATM aims to connect the two existing tram networks through Avda Diagonal, installing a large central bike lane. A project that has received more opinions in favor, compared to others such as the burial of the tracks, passing through the streets Comte d’Urgell and Provence and even the electric bus.
The connection by the Diagonal is imposed by the cost and the final benefit, in addition to environmental impact criteria.
From now on the negotiation between the different political groups begins and the drafting of an executive project that will come to light in the summer of 2018.
New conquest of Barcelona tramway
The future project for the tram includes six stops that will connect Anda Diagonal Barcelona. Located in: La Monumental, Sicily, Verdaguer, Pl Cinc d’Oros, Diagonal, Balmes and Casanova.
The study predicts that the tram will not need a catenary and will run at an average speed of 16 kilometers per hour, with four minute intervals. After the recent update of the Diagonal, the design of wide sidewalks is maintained in the stretch already reformed between the Pg de Gràcia and the Pl Francesc Macià.
The conciliation between the various means of transport will pass the tram by the central trunk of the Diagonal, next to a bike lane 3.8 m wide.
While the private vehicle will be displaced to the sides of the avenue. With two lanes per side. In the affected part of the Diagonal it is planned to limit the circulation of the bus to the section between Pau Claris and Via Augusta. Sharing space with the tram of Barcelona from the Pg de Gràcia to the via Augusta. At the same time that in the section between Pl of Glòries and Marina, the tram and the bike path will circulate along the sides.
As for the other options, the burial is drawn between Francesc Macià and Lauria, a proposal that would allow the tram to gain speed, but that would affect several trees when making the underground stations. The union by Comte de Urgell and Provença gains in connectivity, but loses speed and has a difficult fit in Provence. The informative study draws the electric bus with the same section as if it passed the tram and, although it gains speed with respect to the current buses, it does not capture all the demand that is foreseen with the tram.
