When the street brings out its most human side in Molina de Segura

“It can work, but not every day,” a merchant on Estación Street commented on Saturday shortly after this central Molina road was closed to traffic, on the section that goes from Professor Joaquín Abellán Street to Jara Carrillo. Pedestrians enjoyed on Saturday, without traffic stress, several sections of the urban center that were closed to vehicle traffic from five in the afternoon until twelve at night. From now on, every Saturday, in that time slot, Estación, Jara Carrillo and Santa Teresa streets will be pedestrianized, leaving only vehicle access to residential or public car parks.

“As an experiment, it comes in handy,” said a neighbor who was driving on the asphalt of Estación Street. But what was also shown is that Molina has two faces on Saturdays. One in the morning until early afternoon, with thousands of residents coming and going in the vicinity of the weekly market. And quite another in the afternoon, when the public road is almost empty. Little traffic of people, but great expectation before the activities proposed by the City Council to return the streets to pedestrians.

‘Fitness’, ‘salsation’ and other initiatives accompanied this first day framed in the Enjoy Molina campaign, which seeks to eliminate road traffic for at least one day, so that residents can enjoy various activities in the space occupied by vehicles, while supporting the promotion of a future “low emissions zone” in the municipality, as explained by the mayor and councilor for Mobility, Eliseo García Cantó.

The campaign has the collaboration of the councils of Culture, Local Festivals, Sports and Health, Commerce, Crafts, Tourism, Mobility and Public Safety and the support of the Association of Commerce and Professionals Com-pro, the Association of Entrepreneurs and Merchants of the Segura Asecom and the Gastronomic Association of Molina de Segura.