Construction of the cycle path on Avenida Prof. Egas Moniz is taking a while to get underway due to a "change in the project". Cycle paths on Avenida de Berna and Rua Castilho are being reassessed. Lumiar cycle path takes a long time to tender.
The work to build a cycle path on Avenida Prof. Egas Moniz - which will resolve the discontinuities between the cycle paths on Avenida Lusíada and Avenida dos Combatentes - is underway. has been awarded since the beginning of January, but has been slow to get off the ground. It is now known that the project is being revised. And it's not the only bike path that will be changed.
The bike path on Avenida Prof. Egas Moniz went out to tender at the end of September last year - a procedure carried out by EMEL, the public mobility company that is responsible for the construction of several cycle paths in the city. The contract was awarded on January 7th to the construction company Sanestradas for 234.8 thousand euroswith an execution period of 120 days, according to information available at the Base.gov portal.
At the end of March, Lisboa Para Pessoas contacted EMEL about the delay in starting the Egas Moniz project. EMEL referred the matter to Lisbon City Council, which, for its part, never responded to the questions raised. However, according to Written Information from the PresidentThe report, delivered and discussed at the Municipal Assembly on April 12, was confirmed an "project modification" original bike pathwithout further details.
The original project, the one that went out to public tender, included a "Dutch-style" cycle traffic circle to connect the existing cycle paths on Avenida Lusíada and Avenida dos Combatentes with the new cycle section, which would follow Avenida Prof. Egas Moniz on the side of the University Stadium. The construction of this cycle path, according to the original project, would mean a reduction in car parking, which would change from oblique to parallel. However, the number of lanes per direction was to remain at two.
According to Lisboa Para Pessoas, it is the section of the cycle path between the Santa Maria Hospital intersection and the University City that will be the focus of concern. In this section, one of the three traffic lanes was to be removed, leaving the avenue with two lanes on this side. A shared sidewalk was also planned. On the table could be the detour of the cycle path to the inside of the University Stadium, where there is already a cycle path connecting to the University City.
Berna and Castilho under review
The bicycle lane on Avenida de Berna is being evaluated and the one on Rua Castilho is going to change sides. At the recent decentralized public meeting, which took place at the beginning of April and was dedicated to the parishes of Avenidas Novas and Campolide, a Municipal Mobility Director, Francisca Ramalhosa, explained that the following is being done "monitoring the cycle path and identifying possible points for improvement". This work, as you mentioned, is being developed following a recommendation approved by a majority in the Lisbon Municipal Assembly (AML) in December last yearin which Lisbon City Council was asked to try to improve the changes made to Avenida de Berna without reversing them.
Francisca Ramalhosa said, "In a month or so, a report will be issued to the executive" evaluate suggestions for improvementso that "intervening on some points" from bike path and the Avenue de Berne. The preparation of this report is also mentioned in Written Information from the President which Carlos Moedas took to the AML on the 12th, so that this body can scrutinize the work of the City Council.
This document also refers to an analysis and opinion by the Municipal Mobility Department on an "proposal to improve the bike lane on Castilho Street", which was the first pop-up bike path implemented in Lisbon in the context of the pandemic in 2020. As Lisboa Para Pessoas has learned, the issue is to move the two-way cycle path, which was implemented downhill at the expense of a traffic lane, to the other side of the street. So instead of going downhill, it would be placed uphill, next to Parque Eduardo VII, with a reorganization of the parking lot.
A Written Information from the PresidentThe report, which refers to the period between February and March of this year, also talks about drawing up a "Opinion on the cycle lanes on Rua das Murtas and Frei Miguel Contreiras"in Alvalade, and in a "analysis and proposal for the complaint about the bicycle lane on the Prof. Fernando da Fonseca Streetin the parish of Lumiar".
Rua César Oliveira in public tender
Launched on May 6, 2021, the public tender for the construction of a cycle path on Rua César Oliveira, in Lumiar, is still underway. With a base price of 200,000 euros, this cycle path will pass through a street behind the Air Force Hospital, the Telheiras Shopping Center and Pingo Doce, linking the Telheiras neighborhood to Lumiar.
In the proposal on the table, the following will be created two one-way lanes, each 1.2 meters wideThis is on top of the carriageway, which has an average width of nine meters. Between each cycle path and the road, a protective strip of 0.4 meters was thought up, which would "it will not have any physical obstacle, thus making it possible to prevent its possible use by emergency vehicles". The proposal thus implies a narrowing of the road space.
Since Rua César Oliveira is crossed by heavy goods vehicles loading and unloading at supermarkets, the sidewalk will have to be narrowed briefly at a bend in order to widen the carriageway. However, the project provides for various improvements in "pedestrian circulation conditions, with the creation of sidewalks and crosswalks in areas where they are non-existent and necessary". "Even in places where there is no provision for re-profiling the width of the sidewalk, the lowering will be materialized and the appropriate paving will be laid, namely contrast frames and tactile warning and routing paving, on the existing crosswalks", reads the descriptive memory.
The project, which is currently out to public tender and for which there are only two companies interested in carrying out the work, also includes reorganizing the parking lotwith an increase in the number of seats available, and at least one GIRA station on the approach to the junction with Azinhaga Ulmeiros in the Lumiar area.
The public tender for the construction of a bicycle lane on Rua César Oliveira has been launched by EMEL and is, according to the SaphetyGov platform, underway. contracting phase.
