https://archive.md/knhbz
"This month, Lisbon will become the latest European city to bar through-traffic
from its city center.
The plan, to be introduced for a three-month trial period on April 26, will see
cars barred from driving through (but not from driving to) the heart of
Lisbon’s downtown. A larger zone beyond this will bar access to most vehicles
over 3.5 metric tons — including tourist buses but excluding all forms of
public transit — between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. After the zones’ introduction, cars
trying to cross town will instead be directed to a semi-circular ring of major
roads just beyond Lisbon’s downtown, which will act as a de facto beltway.
While the plan will not be a complete car ban, it could significantly reduce
traffic through the Portuguese capital’s historic heart.
These changes are happening in a somewhat tentative, under-the-radar fashion —
Lisbon Deputy Mayor for Mobility Anacoreta Correia has stressed that the plan
“is dynamic, it does not have an end in sight and will change as the completion
of the works progresses.” And the zones are being justified with reasons that
even the most avid devotee of private cars might see the sense of. This summer
central Lisbon is undergoing substantial major construction, including a metro
extension that will create two new stations, an installation of new storm
drains to prevent flooding along the city’s waterfront, street resurfacing and
work on the sewers. These combined disruptions risk clogging roads, especially
if traffic continues circulating as normal.
There’s nonetheless a greater sense of change in the air than this short-term
pragmatism alone might suggest. The city has said that at least some of the
measures will be maintained in perpetuity, with the ban on daytime heavy goods
vehicles almost definitely intended to be permanent. Lisbon’s current metro
extension works will also continue on two further lines in the near future,
meaning the sort of disruption to the central road system that the city faces
this summer could well be ongoing.
As some Portuguese transit experts have pointed out, the plan could also help
Lisbon reach the challenging goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2030, a target
that was actively promoted by Lisbon Mayor Carlos Moedas in his previous role
as European Union Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation. The city
is one of 122 EU cities that have pledged to achieve this goal."
Via
Future Crunch:
<
https://futurecrunch.com/good-news-women-uzbekistan-conservation-colombia-river-florida/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
