Barcelona is witnessing the last throes of the long New Jersey era. There are only a couple of establishments left in the city whose virus emergency terraces arranged on the road during the pandemic still remain flanked by these yellow concrete barriers.
Municipal sources detail that the progressive and tremendously anticipated removal of the asphalt during the last two and a half years of around 3,000 New Jersey model barriers and some 6,700 plastic Sevillanas led to the recovery of up to 5,072 motorcycle parking spaces. Some are new, others have been rescued after the end of the temporary terraces. In this way, at the moment, the sidewalks of Barcelona are a little clearer. The city has more than 270,000 motorcycles. It is not a definitive solution, but it is an estimable contribution.
In addition, City Hall sources add, the return to pre-pandemic normality also made it possible to enable up to 731 parking spaces for cars. Of all of them, 68% are in the green zone, 18% in the blue zone, 6% for residents and the rest are dedicated to unregulated parking, official reserves, ambulances... The end of the very long era of New Jersey has also allowed the opening of 471 linear meters of loading and unloading area.
These 3,000 New Jerseys now rest on a large plot of land at the City Hall in the Hort-Guinardò district. Its removal meant a municipal expense of around 370,000 euros. The truth is that the recovery of normality was unusually convoluted in these latitudes. Especially if we take a look at what happened in a few Spanish cities. Three concrete barriers and its air of a city immersed in a war conflict still flank the three tables and nine chairs initially arranged provisionally on the road in front of number 7 Escultor Llimona Street during the hardest moments of the pandemic, there For the year 2020, it's been...
“We are going to remove, of course, the New Jersey barriers, in a few weeks,” says Jonathan Martínez, behind the bar of this restaurant in the Nou Barris district of Tropical. What happened was that time ran out on us, that everything became complicated. The first estimate for the definitive terrace model approved by the City Council was very expensive, around 20,000 euros, and we had to look for a cheaper one, around 15,000, also approved by the City Council, because in no way can we give up this terrace, because now people love to be outside, in the open air, even if it is there, on the road... We hope to finish settling the papers with the City Council very soon, these very days.”
At first, during those apocalyptic moments when having a coffee with milk in a bar seemed like a victory in the face of fatal adversity, it seemed like a very clever solution to everyone, the one in New Jersey. But later, very soon, as political corrections and administrative problems entrenched them in so many streets, these barriers were revealed as a source of citizen shame, another disturbing element in Barcelona's public space.
In total, during that pandemic, the City Council authorized the installation of 1,550 terraces on the roads in order to mitigate the economic consequences of the imposed restrictions. According to sources from the Barcelona Restoration Association, in the end up to 651 candlesticks were definitively consolidated. We are talking about 8,496 chairs, arranged mainly in the Eixample, Sarrià-Sant Gervasi and Sants-Montjuïc districts.
At the time, La Vanguardia monitored the recovery of normality in several cities. Seville, Bilbao and Palma, cities where terraces are also deeply rooted, places where hundreds of tables were also provisionally set up to cover the restoration, came to recompose their public space in just a few months.
What happens is that here in Barcelona many more nightstands were definitively consolidated than in many other cities. And that involved a process that became very complicated. The officials could not cope, drowned in a sea of requests. And the truth is that the municipal government then led by Mayor Ada Colau, who felt very comfortable subtracting parking spaces from private vehicles, had no choice but to back down in the face of complaints from many neighborhood entities who understood that the City Council was pampering too much. to the restoration, which was leaving aside the fight against noise pollution.
Especially in the Eixample district, the City Council toughened its requirements. Establishments selected by the City Council itself to test and publicize the new approved terrace models destined to permanently retire the New Jersey barriers ultimately saw their requests for definitive consolidation of their provisional pedestal tables rejected. Case, for example, of La Granja La Crema, between Diputació and Muntaner streets, or the Sagardi restaurant, a little further up, between Aragó and Muntaner. At the moment, both chamfers are once again dedicated to parking. In the first, the City Council enabled three spaces in the blue zone, and in the second, where the terrace was larger, another three in the blue zone and a couple more for the disabled.
“In the end we ended up in court,” they say these days on the farm in question. A few days ago they took our new nightstand. We spent about 3,000 euros to legalize it and in the end they take it away from us? Yes, it was your proposal! But suddenly the City Council said that this area was saturated.” In the restaurant they considered putting up a fight, but in the end they gave up. In this way, the already enormous administrative process became mired in an avalanche of resources.
The resignations also proved an unexpected problem. Many businesses could not overcome the accumulated losses. And also a good handful of restaurateurs did not want to keep these tables so close to daily traffic. So a lot of New Jersey were left orphaned, taking up a few stretches of road for nothing. The images were completely illustrative in front of number 88 Villarroel Street, where El Rincón de Laura closed its doors. And also a few numbers up, next to the Colombia Pan y Sabor bakery. Waste simply accumulated in these spaces on the road. Meanwhile the motorcycles were piling up on the sidewalks. Today, they finally fulfill a function.
