The mayor of Murcia, José Ballesta, promised yesterday with representatives of residents and merchants of the Carmen neighborhood to open the Old Bridge to traffic in 15 days so that cars can circulate to Canalejas avenue. Vehicles will not be able to continue, but must cross to Calle Princesa through the detour through Calle Proclamación, which runs parallel to the Floridablanca garden. In a second phase and after studying it with the experts, it will be seen if the circulation can continue through Alameda de Colón as before the mobility works.
This was one of the most awaited news by residents and merchants of the neighborhood and the rest of the city, since the passage to all types of traffic was cut off on May 18, with the aim of placing segregated bus and bike lanes. The project of the previous municipal government team maintained the prohibition of the passage of any private vehicle over the bridge when the works were completed.
Ballesta, together with the Councilor for Mobility, José Francisco Muñoz, made this announcement after the meeting they held yesterday with representatives of the Murcia-El Carmen Neighborhood Association, before the Close My Neighborhood Platform, and the Neighborhood Merchants Association , all contrary to the mobility project proposed for Carmen by the previous executive and against which they protested for months. They are the first organizations with which the mayor meets after taking office last Saturday.
Ballesta indicated that the objective of the proposed measures was to “contribute to the social and economic recovery of the Carmen neighborhood; make the environment permeable and coordinate all means of transport, including the tram”. He stressed that, in the face of these actions, “we must remove any feeling of revisionism” about what was done previously.
For his part, Councilor Muñoz also explained that they have given instructions to the municipal developer Urbamusa to study the feasibility, economic cost and social profitability of building an underground car park on Floridablanca street, with the possibility of extending it to Princesa street. , as well as the construction of a tunnel in that area to facilitate transit.
Regarding the stoppage of the works, Muñoz indicated that “a modeling will be carried out to see alternatives” with experts and to determine where the contracts can be suspended and modified.
At the same time, the City Council will grant aid to residents and merchants, and bonuses for the use of public transport; and they will study, said the mayor, one of the demands put on the table at yesterday’s meeting: suppress the time limit on parking in the ORA blue zone of a maximum of 2.5 hours. “It will be valued from the technical point of view and if possible and it benefits the neighborhood.”
Before these statements, two of the representatives of the residents and merchants present at the meeting presented their requests. José Oñate, who was a spokesman for the Close My Neighborhood Platform, as president of the merchants’ association, affirmed that these commitments would help encourage commercial life. “In eight months we have lost 70% of sales and many shops will not open after the summer,” he lamented.
He indicated that they had asked for a shuttle bus to be placed from the parking lot of the Artillery Barracks to the neighborhood and the city center and that the use of this parking lot be discounted for those who make purchases in El Carmen.
Jerónimo Jover, president of the Murcia El Carmen neighborhood association, for his part, claimed that his groups could be present at future meetings of the committee of experts to analyze the neighborhood’s mobility model. “It is what we have always wanted, because we are looking for a neighborhood model and not just highways with bus and bike lanes.” He recalled that they also claim to stop the non-reversible works.
Vox demands to stop the works
For his part, the spokesman for the municipal Vox Group in the Murcia City Council, Luis Gestoso, continued yesterday “demanding” Ballesta to stop the Mobility Plan “as he promised in the campaign” and “leave letters to the minister, centralities and excuses ».
“The mayor continues to break his promise to the people of Murcia and to the voters, as the works continue and are even beginning in new streets and sections,” said Gestoso, who was pleased that the Old Bridge will open soon, “as we have ordered this Tuesday.
#Ballesta #open #Bridge #Murcia #traffic #week #July