Because we believe in transparency, we are releasing the presentation of the new Almirante Reis cycle path that was made at the last participatory session at the end of March. It's a document that Lisboa Para Pessoas had been requesting from Lisbon City Council, but which had always gone unanswered.
We asked, we asked again, we asked again. Despite our insistence, Lisbon City Council never replied. But Lisboa Para Pessoas gained access to full presentation of the new solution pop-up for the Almirante Reis bike path. This is the presentation made at the last participatory sessionon March 24, but which had never been published on the municipality's website or sent to the media.
We are now publishing this document and its images because we believe in transparency and that only with accessible and shared information can we aim for a more participatory city. At Lisboa Para Pessoas, we strive to make documentation accessible to people. We are working on a Library and, at the same time, in every article we publish we make sure to attach the documents that are relevant to that topic, be they projects, descriptive notes, studies or strategic plans.
You can consult and download the presentation on the new Almirante Reis here:
The new pop-up at Almirante Reis
The work to build this new version of the Almirante Reis cycle path started quietly this weekwith the first markings of the new route on the ground. Although there is still no execution project available, it is possible to extract a drawing of a section from the presentation made at the participatory session. As we told you before:
- the cycle lane will move to the downhill side of the avenue in a bidirectional format;
- the rightmost traffic lanes in each direction will be limited to 30 km/h and shared between cars and public transport;
- the bike lane should be 2.40 meters wide with a buffer of 0.30 meters, which will be filled with the current segregators but arranged in a double line;
- the descending lane must be 3.25 meters wide and the two ascending lanes must be 3.00 meters and 3.10 meters wide.
Below you can see two profiles presented for Avenida:
You can read more about the project here.
The other two alternatives studied
In addition to the solution that will be applied, two other alternatives have been studied, which had already been considered for that axis previously. In the image below you can see the three solutions that were on the table of the Cabinet of Ministers:
One of the alternatives was to take the cycle path along Rua da Palma and Avenida Almirante Reis and then divert it, at the Portugália block, to Rua Pascoal de Melo and Rua António Pedro, but this solution would have meant a substantial cut in the supply of surface parking in the area, which is why it was set aside:
Another route that had already been studied by Lisbon City Council before it even decided to build the first cycle path pop-up on Almirante Reis would be to use the axis of Rua da Palma, Rua de Arroios and Rua António Pedro - in other words, the cycle path would never pass through Almirante Reis:
