One of Jaume Collboni's promises after becoming mayor of Barcelona was the "re-evaluation" of urban planning and mobility projects that have caused discomfort in some groups. The Via Augusta cycle lane, built in the heat of the election campaign, became a symbol of this and – as promised – it will now be subjected to the corresponding analysis.
The Barcelona City Council has put out to tender this week a minor contract corresponding to the technical consultancy service for the evaluation of the operation of the Via Augusta. "The aim is to study the operation of the bike lane and see how it impacts the environment", say municipal sources. By environment is understood, in a broad way, the effect it can have on mobility from Diagonal to almost the Ronda de Dalt and from the neighborhood of Sarrià to that of Gràcia.
The consulting company that ends up taking on the audit will have to study the effects on mobility of the new cycleway coming into operation in the section between Carrer Laforja and Hort de la Vila, the last slope of to open. Since the start of the works, it has caused discomfort for Vallès drivers who enter and leave Barcelona through the Vallvidrera tunnels because they have lost a lane for cars. The RACC also showed its displeasure a few days ago.
The study will reflect automatic and manual calculations of the passage of vehicles as well as an assessment of the flows and density of motorized traffic and the cycle lane. Pollutant emissions will also be estimated and the effects on school mobility in the area and the operation of the bus service will be analysed, with special attention to stops, a likely point of conflict, since to get on and off the 'bus you have to cross the bike lane.
The type of audit of the cycle path commissioned "cannot be carried out by the City Council directly because it does not have the material and human means necessary to carry it out", justify from the direction of Mobility services in the report of need of the contract. The maximum cost will be 14,915 euros, just below the 15,000 euros limit that this kind of more agile awards have, since if they exceed this amount the procedure would be much longer. Even so, the only award criterion for those who present themselves will be the best economic offer, so the cost to the City Council will predictably end up being a little lower.
The fieldwork will last a maximum of three months and the results of the evaluation are expected by the end of November. The report to be drawn up will be decisive for making a decision on the future of the Via Augusta bike lane, which was the most voted proposal in the participatory budgets of the district of Sarrià-Sant Gervasi during the previous mandate. Municipal sources point out that "the task is to explain with the maximum information about this infrastructure in order to assess the options that derive from it".
Based on their contributions, the "adjustments and nuances" referred to by the City Council's chief engineer, Oriol Altisench, will be introduced a few weeks ago, when he made it clear in his first speech in office that he did not the works would not be stopped nor would the course of the transformation of mobility towards a city where bicycles have a segregated and safe infrastructure be substantially altered.
It is expected that in the coming weeks the bike lane will be opened in its entirety, including the section that is missing from Ganduxer to Dolors Monserdà, already past Paseo de la Bonanova, which is apparently completed. The date of entry into service is still uncertain, although the initial forecast that had been given was to remove the construction fences in the middle of the month. Since this was not the case, the Bici Augusta platform a few days ago carried out a protest action removing the obstacles and demonstrating that it is now possible to circulate on the exclusive infrastructure for bikes and scooters from end to end of the Via Augusta. If the group has any complaints, it is that it is excessively narrow and unsafe in some places.
