Are we aware of the consequences of the Eixample superblock in Barcelona, which Ada Colau is applying at a charge rate?
It is about preventing circulation, except for bicycles and scooters, in 18 streets. Nine in the direction of Llobregat-Besòs: Corsica to Viladomat, Provence, Consell de Cent, Tamarit, Parlament, Aldana, Ausiàs March, Valencia from Diagonal and Sant Antoni Maria Claret. In addition to nine other sea-mountains: Llançà, Rocafort, Borrell, Casanova, Enric Granados, Rambla Catalunya, Girona, Sicily and Cartagena, to which Via Laietana must be added. To all this, must be added the impediments of tactical urbanism in the rest of the streets and the proliferation of bike lanes.
The result is a brutal strangulation of mobility, which will be concentrated in the two thirds of the remaining streets, which will not only have to absorb private vehicles, but also public transport, taxis, merchandise distribution services and other services (ambulances , firefighters, police). The collapse of circulation will aggravate the damage caused by pollution and noise to the majority of the population. The current situation of Calle València is an attenuated sample of what will happen to Barcelona.
This cancellation of the pla Cerdà also presents major irregularities. The first is its lack of democratic legitimacy caused by the absence of a citizen consultation, which should be extended to the extension of the tram along the Diagonal. Manu militari, with a simple works plan, cannot be imposed such a radical change, which compromises the present and future of the city and, furthermore, the functioning of the metropolitan region.
The second irregularity refers to the administrative procedure followed to approve the transformations. An agreement from the municipal government commission approving a works project as if it were widening some sidewalks, instead of what it is: the modification of the current urban planning, which is going to alter the mobility of the tertiary center of Barcelona, which is the same as saying metropolitan, with an impact on the needs of five million people. Because, and this must be underlined, 78% of the vehicles that circulate in the Eixample come from outside the city.
The third is the concealment of the total cost of this transformation. Will it be 700 million, to which must be added the cost of the tram? But there is more. It hides what its exploitation regime will be. Will the private concession be maintained as in the current tramway, which would thus benefit from the public investment carried out? Or will the concession be rescued, and in this case, 400 million more must be added to its cost? And if the privatization is maintained, how will it affect the income of the loss-making company TMB? The lack of transparency is absolute.
Finally, nothing is known about how it will disrupt economic activity and employment. Shops, offices, workshops, parking lots. Everything will change radically with a third less streets. What is the dimension of this relocation?
But it is also that all the kilometers of streets without traffic will be landscaped, less than more, which multiplies the cost of maintenance, if you want to avoid its degradation, in a city that already suffers from this disease to an extraordinary extent. But precisely for this reason, and because of the current poor state of green areas, why should we trust that they would maintain themselves on a much larger scale, when they are currently unable to do so? The experiments, with soda.
In this way, Colau would destroy the mobility of Barcelona, creating a first-class city: the one with streets without cars, if they are not degraded by the mass use of bicycles, scooters, large drinks and the night shelter for the homeless, and another second: the collapsed streets, contaminated above all limits and noisy to the point of illness, like the current Valencia street.
But for the delegated prosecutor for the environment "it is not evident that, in order to carry out a management of this public space, in the manner established by these axes, the modification of the General Metropolitan Plan (PGM) was previously necessary". It is seen that the liquidation of a third of the streets is not enough for such a thing. "True things, Sancho, that the stones will tell." Amen.
