EB Sarah Afonso, in Olivais, is the third school in the city to participate in Move Yourself Around Your City, a Lisbon City Hall program to promote travel in active modes by children and young people.
António tries out a skateboard to see how well it sticks to the tarmac of a small alley that leads to the back gate of the Sarah Afonso Primary School in Olivais. There's no problem with cars: that road impasse is now closed to traffic on Fridays from 8.30 a.m. to 9.30 a.m.. Only residents who have parked their cars there can enter or re-enter. The closure will be tested until July 1st - and who knows if it won't become permanent as it did in a neighboring school.
António was one of the parents who insisted that EB Sarah Afonso be closed for at least one day a week. At the beginning of this year, the parents' association sent a request to the town hall and the Olivais parish council, which has now been answered. The day chosen was Friday, when the Bicycle train of that school, led by António himself, circulates.
On the first day of the closure, several parents in their cars tried to turn into the school's street, but, realizing the pins blocking access, they immediately stopped their vehicles in the street and left their children on foot. Others had stopped in the cul-de-sac next door, but far from the gate. Only one father protested against the closure. "You can't close streets just like that"he said from inside the car that he had stopped at the entrance to the impasse, while his eldest son got out to take the youngest to the gate.
On the first day of the car-free street, most mothers and fathers still preferred to take their children along the sidewalk - probably out of habit. But António remembers well the chaos that usually occurs in that impasse without the closure - cars almost up to the door, an urban mess that puts those on foot or by bicycle at risk. His parents' association even presented a proposal to create a small pedestrian plaza in that impasse, where children could play before or after school.
Now, they want to take up some of those ideas and make the space more dynamic, promoting play between children and socializing between parents. Painting and coloring the tarmac, promoting activities or making skateboards and other soft modes available for the little ones to try out are some of the ideas under discussion. Next Friday, April 8, the parents' association with the promoters of the EB Sarah Afonso Bicycle Train and the Bicicultura cooperative will organize an afternoon of games outside the school.
António's dream, along with that of other parents, is for Lisbon's school surroundings to be safer and more child-friendly; EB Sarah Afonso could be an example in the city. Today, the school's main entrance is no longer used because it leads onto a wide and unsafe street, despite the raised crosswalk. That's why the side portal - the one that leads to the dead end - is now being used. The parents' association even presented an idea for the main front of the schoolThe first step was to create a pedestrian priority, coexistence zone that would force cars to slow down when they wanted to cross.
António sees this closure of the street one day a week as a first step that could make the area around the school more pleasant for everyone - even for local residents, who, according to António, complain about the noise and confusion of cars right outside their door. We now need to bring together local partners around this goal and generate consensus in the neighborhood. For now, they are relying on the support of the Cabo Ruivo Volunteer Fire Brigade, which has its headquarters right on the doorstep of the impasse and has offered to carry out the car closure.
The closure of that dead-end street, which only serves as access to the school and parking for those who live there, aims to promote more active mobility among the school community and is being promoted by the Lisbon City Council as part of the program Move Around Your City. The municipality has been running this program since 2019 at the D. Filipa de Lencastre School Group, in the Arco do Cego neighborhood, where every Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. the surrounding area is closed to car traffic (with the exception of residents and loading and unloading) and reserved for walking, cycling, skateboarding and other soft modes of mobility. Another of the schools covered by this program is the Jardim-Escola João de Deus in Olivais, which saw its alley closed to cars for good at the beginning of 2022 after a temporary experiment as well.
Updated on 7/04/2022: added information about the activity on the 8th.
