The renovation works on the Sant Antoni ring road between Urgell and Floridablanca streets will start on January 8, according to what Barcelona City Council informed residents of Raval and Sant Antoni on Monday. The work will last 16 months and will involve an investment of 11.6 million euros.
The Sant Antoni ring road will have a new pacified space for citizen uses, between Villarroel and Floridablanca streets, which will be linked to Pes de la Palla square, where a new children’s play area will be installed. In addition, the project plans to open a downhill bus lane between Villarroel and Urgell and renew Tamarit Street and Dubte Square.
In the end, despite the disagreements expressed by the socialists in the previous mandate, the government of Mayor Jaume Collboni takes on the project led by the previous Deputy Mayor for Urban Planning, Janet Sanz.
This project does not satisfy anyone. But the City Council was in a bind, there was no way to find a consensus solution that would satisfy everyone. On the one hand we have those who believe that the pedestrianization of recent years has degraded the place and generated coexistence problems. On that side there are mainly entities from the area itself and the rest of Eixample. On the other side are mainly associations linked to the Raval – and some from Sant Antoni –, which aspired to maintain the total pedestrianization of the section, who understand that Ciutat Vella needs these oxygen valves. In truth, supporters of pedestrianization are happier.
