The change of government has not meant, at least for now, an alteration in the mobility transformation plans in Barcelona. Jaume Collboni maintains his commitment to the construction of new bike lanes and the improvement of some that already exist, along the lines of what has been done in recent years in the classic summer works, when he takes advantage of it to carry out urban works in the streets of the Catalan capital minimizing the effects due to the lower mobility of these weeks.
This summer there are scheduled works related to bike lanes in eight different streets, most of them with the works already started months ago. The most controversial project in this sense is that of Via Augusta, which just last week finished the works between Laforja and Ganduxer and these days is giving the final touches to the section up to Dolors Monserdà, already past Paseo de la Bonanova, which will come into service in the middle of this month.
The removal of a car lane to create a bike lane going up and another down on this avenue has revolted drivers from El Vallès who use this road to enter and exit the Catalan capital. Collboni promised last week, in his speech at Foros de Vanguardia, to “re-evaluate” this work with the technical teams and assess its impact on mobility to decide if it is necessary to introduce any changes, although in the municipal government they are very aware that it was the project with the most votes in the district in the participatory budgets and that the elimination of a bike lane is an image more typical right now in Spain of a PP mayor than of a socialist one.
“There is a very clear will not to stop anything, of course, everything continues as planned and the adjustments and nuances will already be seen when it is in operation and we re-evaluate it”, defends the new chief engineer, Oriol Altisench, who already knows what it is to fight (and win) in defense of a project questioned by the opposition, due to his previous role as coordinator of the project to connect the tram networks along the Diagonal in the public company Bimsa.
Despite the noise generated around the Via Augusta bike lane, the most transformative work of all those planned is the one being carried out on Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, which brings one of the first bike lanes in the city down to the road, painted at the time on the sidewalk. It is the best example of the policy that the last two Socialist Mobility Councilors (Rosa Alarcón and Laia Bonet) promoted during the last term, with the ultimate goal of reducing bike lanes to zero in the space reserved for pedestrians. When it becomes a reality, the bikes will go along the sides in the corresponding direction of traffic, in some sections with segregated bike lanes and in others sharing space with local traffic. The works are already underway between Plaza Espanya and Calle Mineria (at the height of La Campana), but the start of the work from that point to Plaza Cerdà, a stretch of constant conflict between cyclists and pedestrians, has yet to be defined.
The summer programming also aims to put an end to one of the greatest signs of neglect by the Barcelona City Council towards its metropolitan environment. At the height of Parque Cervantes, an area of ??land in a terrible state has caused more than one cyclist to end up kissing the ground when entering the municipal area of ??the capital from the bike lane that crosses the Ronda de Dalt from Esplugues. The multi-award-winning urban emblem promoted by the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) will continue on Diagonal after five years of being ignored by Barcelona.
There is also work underway on Paseo Maragall, a bike path that includes adjacent sections on Calle Freser and Rosselló, as well as Calle Còrsega, between Freser and Castillejos. They will be added to the bike lane on calle Independència between Meridiana and Sant Antoni Maria Claret, opened this past weekend. Lastly, there is still no clear date for the start of works, but throughout this summer, the construction of several sections of the bike lane on Calle Mallorca and the bike lane of the Paseo Marítim between Avenida Ramon Trias Fargas and the Trelawny Street
