Avenida Almirante Gago Coutinho will gain a cyclopedestrian bridge in the area near the Clock traffic circle. Only this bridge, which will replace an old metal structure on the site, will not be like all the others: it will have trees and a garden area. O public tenderwith a base value of 2.3 million euros, was launched this week.
The new bridge - a "naturalized overpass" - is presented, in the descriptive memory, as an "emblematic and innovative project" with the aim of "establish the continuity of the municipal ecological structure"This is the first time that a Green Corridor has been created, at a point in the city where three of its Green Corridors intersect - the Central, Olivais and Oriental Green Corridors - and to allow a direct connection between José Gomes Ferreira Park (Alvalade Woods) and the Vineyard Park.
This new overpass under Avenida Almirante Gago Coutinho will have small-medium sized trees, vines and shrubs, allowing the "extension of adjacent green areas". "It is a typological option that has been adopted to provide continuity to green paths and corridors integrated into urban networks, in situations where there are obstacles to mobility, difficult to overcome in a pedestrian use or other soft modes of travel"the document reads. For planting on the bridge to be feasible, there is expected to be a moat of about two meters of vegetal earth.
The bridge can be used by people on foot or by bike, because there is a bike lane that comes from Avenida do Brasil and goes to Bela Vista (Rua Pardal Monteiro)."For more convenient crossing by cyclists and pedestrians", it reads, the overpass should have a minimum cycling width of 2.20 meters on each side of the deck.
The project foresees the maintenance of this bike path, integrating it with the new overpass, and its repainting to shades of green. On the Parque da Vinha side, along the bike path a pedestrian area will be created, but only in the first few meters (it is planned to extend this path to Rua Pardal Monteiro in a future project). Also on this side, new pedestrian paths will be created between the bridge and the lower part (avenue/roundabout).
This naturalized overpass will be unprecedented in Lisbon. The public tender foresees a maximum period of 350 days (in other words, practically one year) for its execution, plus 365 days for the provision of maintenance services for the planted green spaces.
Remember that Almirante Gago Coutinho Avenue was recently intervened on the sidewalks for parking regulation and the release of a pedestrian channel along its entire length. The construction of a bicycle path is planned for 2022. In the plans is also the creation of a cycling connection to the traffic circle of the clock, allowing to reach both the bike path of Avenida Marechal Gomes da Costa and Avenida Cidade do Porto.
