If everything goes well, and the truth is that with the works you never know, especially in Ciutat Vella, where anything can appear, the renovation of the Rambla will be completed in 2027, three years earlier than initially planned back in the first mandate of Mayor Ada Colau. Municipal technicians are uniting and concentrating the countless phases and parts in principle arranged to execute this long-awaited project much more quickly. The government of Mayor Jaume Collboni is thus finalizing the new calendar for the remodeling work of the most visited promenade in Barcelona, the most international showcase of the city.
In fact, the socialist executive is confident that these plans will be approved by the municipal Urban Planning Commission to be held in mid-October. The news is being received with cheers and castanets by neighbors and merchants in the area. Although the renovation started in the least traveled area of the Rambla, in the lower part, these first works are proving to be much more uncomfortable than many expected.
“They have ruined our season,” they lament behind the bar of La Cava Universal, on the corner of the promenade and Anselm Clavé Street. And the truth is that it is difficult for us to understand. Did they not prolong the work for so long precisely to mitigate its impact? The works began in October of last year, and the machines started drilling here in front, where we had the terrace, in July. Well, in June our billing dropped by 40%, in July by 60... and in August by 80%!” These days La Cava celebrates 165 years of history. A waiter exudes sarcasm and says that the former mayor Colau left them a nice anniversary gift.
Right now the walk along this side of the Rambla is a nuisance. One doesn't know where to go and is easily surprised on the asphalt between concrete barriers and moving cars. People try to leave behind the section between the Columbus monument and the Santa Mònica art center as soon as possible. Some human statues also suffer from these circumstances. Here they feel that then the City Council lacked a little empathy. Shortening this reform as much as possible was one of the socialist's first pre-election promises, and also one of his first commitments once he was proclaimed mayor.
“They should have taken advantage of the autumn much better, instead of using the drills in the middle of summer,” says Fermín Villar, from the Amics de la Rambla neighborhood and merchant association. We thank Mayor Collboni and his team for their sensitivity and good disposition. The truth is that the prospect of seven and a half years of works seemed really tough, very difficult to assume. It never seemed to us that developing this work in a lot of phases and parts would reduce its impact on the daily life of the promenade. Not at all. This week they found archaeological remains again. It seems that they do not have much value, like the previous ones. Here on the Rambla the unforeseen events are continuous. The changes that the municipal technicians are communicating to us seem very timely to us.”
These first works in the lower part will conclude next spring. Then the renovation between Santa Madrona Street and Plaza Catalunya will be put out to tender and budgeted. The idea is to execute it in one go. The works on this super stretch will start in 2025, but will last 34 months, and could be completed in 2027. Yes, it is a distant horizon, but the original plan basically consisted of dividing the works into five phases, and subdividing each of them. them in three other parts. In this way, the reform of the Rambla would not be ready until approximately 2030.
