The Madrid City Council will invest 600,000 euros in the remodeling of the pedestrian areas under the Raimundo Fernández Villaverde bridge, in the Nuevos Ministerios area, to take advantage of its "pedestrian and residential potential", implementing seating areas with benches and generating landscaped bands in the sides.
The beginning of the work, which the newspaper 'El Mundo' reported this Wednesday and sources from the Works and Equipment area confirm to Efe, is scheduled for June and its completion at the beginning of 2025.
In the urbanization works project it is argued that, currently, the area "wastes its pedestrian and residential potential", which in turn prevents "access" to the sculptural group at the bottom of the Raimundo Fernández Villaverde bridge, given that the space “is fragmented by various changes in circulation.”
In addition to the installation of benches and buckets and the generation of lateral garden bands, it is planned to replace the current "empty and deteriorated" pond with a stainless steel pavement of the same dimensions that replicates its volume.
Regarding the choice of vegetation and its distribution, the recommendations of the municipal ordinance on Management and efficient use of water have been taken into account, seeking a “balance” between walkable areas and garden areas.
In this way, native or non-native plant species adapted to the climatic conditions of Madrid have been selected, with low maintenance and water requirements.
After presenting this year's Operation Asphalt, the delegate of Works and Equipment, Paloma García Romero, pointed out that it is "a work of regeneration of public space", and has highlighted that action will be taken in "almost 3,000 square meter".
The delegate has compared this intervention to the works carried out under the Juan Bravo bridge, given that there will be "new urban furniture, new pavement, new pedestrian areas, new trees and living areas", all of this to "provide greater quality” to a space “that is currently very underused.”
García Romero added that “more than a neighborhood demand” it was a “necessity”: “Visually, Madrid is improving. Every time we are improving new areas, new streets, and every time you improve an area, the next one asks you to improve it, and this one was already asking for it, having fixed the entire part of Juan Bravo.
“This area under the Raimundo Fernández Villaverde bridge requested it,” argued the PP delegate, adding that another of the keys to the action is to “give value” to the pictorial work that is under the bridge, which “currently is not even visible.” appreciates” the “bad state” of the space.
