Moedas' number two announced 28 kilometers of segregated cycle paths and the implementation of Zones 30+bici in 13 districts of the city. "Our expectation is that these cycle paths can be completed by the end of the mandate," in other words, by 2025.
Filipe Anacoreta Correia, Deputy Mayor of Lisbon, anticipated the planned discussion on the removal of the bicycle lane on Avenida de Bernaat the public meeting on Wednesday, October 25, and presented, at the same meeting, a plan for the future. "dynamic" to extend the cycling network, complete some missing links, create more 30+bike neighborhoods and expand the GIRA network. "We will greatly strengthen the cycling network and GIRA's presence in the city of Lisbon", assured Moedas' number two to the councillors of the various political forces.
"Our aim is not to make this [this plan] a promise. That hasn't been our methodology. We committed ourselves to the work and we want to evaluate it at the end of the mandate"said Anacoreta Correia. Looking for a policy "not with promises and words, but with reality"However, the official did give a time frame - albeit a tight one - for the plan that has now been unveiled: "Our expectation is that these cycle paths can be completed by the end of the term"In other words, in 2025.
According to the strategy presented for cycling mobility, Lisbon City Council is working on four main axes:
- extending the existing networkThis means finishing the audit of the current network and building at least 19 new sections - in other words, adding 17 kilometers to the network. This list includes, for example new configuration of the Avenida de Berna cycle path;
- improving cycling links to schoolsThis is the start of 23 cycling infrastructure projects that will cover 40 educational establishments in the city. These interventions are part of the BICI programThis is the first of the 11.4 kilometers that the city of Lisbon has won, and they make up a total of 11.4 kilometers - part of which will be segregated sections (the 11.4 kilometers), the other part will be shared 30+bike channels;
- create new 30+Bike Zones in 13 residential districts of the city, the first of which will be unveiled in January 2024. These neighborhoods, where the maximum speed of traffic will be reduced to 30 km/h, will have calming measures implemented and green lines painted on the asphalt, signaling the sharing of the channel by bicycles, cars and other vehicles. These new Zones 30+Bici will add 58 kilometers of cycling infrastructure to the network;
- expanding the GIRA network with 36 new stations, allowing global coverage of the city (in all parishes by 2025/26) and reinforcing the network with new bicycles. By the end of 2023, the following are planned 900 bicycles - 500 new and 400 electrified.
23 kilometers segregated, 58 shared
Among the 19 new sections of cycle path presented by Anacoreta Correia, eight have been completed, eight are underway and three are being studied. The list includes the Almirante Gago Coutinho Avenue cycle bridge, work on which is about to begin, the Avenida Álvaro Pais cycle paththe controversial alteration to Avenida de Berna, the bicycle lane on Avenida Egas Moniz, which has been under contract since the end of 2021, and the improving the riverside cycle pathThe project is currently under development. completion of the Vale da Montanha Urban Parkwhich will allow for a runway between Gago Coutinho and Bela Vista/Chelas, or the section that is part of the ongoing redevelopment of the Marechal Humberto Delgado Squarein Sete Rios. The list also includes projects that we already reported on in LPP last May.
Anacoreta Correia admitted imperfections in the list he showed at the town hall meeting, saying that it may be incomplete, since not all of the city's cycle paths are made by the municipality's Mobility department or by EMEL. "There are projects in Green Spaces or Urban Planning that add to this amount"such as São Sebastião da Pedreira Square. "We are working hard to identify these projects"said the Deputy Mayor, adding that, in this context, he has "working with parish councils and residents' associations".
With regard to Zones 30+Bici, Lisbon City Council plans to intervene in the following 13 neighborhoods: Madre de Deus, Alto do Parque, Restelo (West), Santa Cruz de Benfica (East), Rego, Calçada dos Mestres, Campo de Ourique, Alvalade, São Sebastião da Pedreira, Actores, Condado, Encarnação and Parque das Nações (South). In some of these neighborhoods, such as Campo de Ourique, Alvalade or Rego, there is already 30+ bike infrastructure and traffic calming measures, but the aim is to intervene in more streets and complete existing projects.
When all is said and done, the Lisbon municipality expects to add 86 kilometers to the city's cycling network, which means a increase of around 50% (the current network has, since the beginning of the current mandate in 2021, just over 150 kilometers). Of these 86 kilometers, 28 will be dedicated cycle paths, separated from other traffic; 58 kilometers will be the aforementioned Zones 30+bici.
It should be remembered that he first time Lisbon City Council announced a cycling network was in 2016, with the then President, Fernando Medina, promising 200 kilometers by 2018. In 2020, in the context of the pandemic and with this goal still far from being met, Medina unveiled a plan for bicycle paths pop-upIt also promised to complete the previously announced cycling network. From 2016 until now there have been changes to what was going to be done, but in essence what was planned has remained the same - the cycle path expansion plan can be consulted on this interactive map, available on the municipality's website.
Filipe Anacoreta Correia, who as well as being Deputy Mayor of Lisbon is also responsible for Mobility, also spoke about the expansion of the GIRA network, reiterating what was already known: a intention to extend the network to all parishes by 2025/26by expanding the number of stations and making new bicycles available. By the end of this year, 900 electric bikes are planned: 500 new and 400 electrified. Of these 900, 274 will already be on the road in the city, according to figures just revealed by the mayor.
The mayor commented that the current network "it was not preceded by any coherent plan or presentation, nor was it subject to public discussion" e "it has been the subject of various projects that have been carried out specifically and that together form the network that we have in the city of Lisbon". Regarding the ongoing audit, which aims to evaluate what has been done in order to possibly do better, Anacoreta Correia said that this work - carried out by the team of the Danish consultancy Copenhagenize - would be carried out in the future. "is being finalized".
"There's no point in talking about destroying the cycle path, that's not what's happening"
"We received an interim report" e, "As soon as this report is finished, we will of course make it available to all the political forces and we will then be able to talk to this audit"he explained. "This is dynamic work. We already have some concerns flagged up and it's no coincidence that we're currently presenting this project to expand the network." But Anacoreta Correia's presentation, at a public town hall meeting, also comes at a time of controversy, due to the removal of the current bike lane on Avenida de Berna to reduce it to one block in a first phase (and two in a second phase) and to reinstate 70 parking spaces.
Pedro Anastácio, a socialist councillor, criticized the Moedas administration for making this change to Avenida de Berna in a hurry. "The President [Carlos Moedas] told us at the last private meeting that the alteration of this cycle path was a promise from the Avenidas Novas Parish Council that the City Council was fulfilling. I'm a little worried that the City Council is merely a nuncio for the wishes of the parish councils"he said, asking Anacoreta Correia and Moedas about the audit "of which nothing is yet known". According to the PS, there was a promise that "Before any changes were made to the cycle network, the audit would be shared. And still nothing. Bring that audit to City Hall, share it with us. That really is the best way: to share and then propose a new solution"Anastácio asked.
The Socialist councillor added that "what should be done" on the Avenue de Berne "was to improve the solution that exists there, meeting what people are asking for: to build better public space, make the cycle path safer, improve pedestrian circulation and reduce the speed on that avenue. These should be the objectives, this concern". Pedro Anastácio also recalled that "there is a petition for the removal [of the bike lane], but there is a petition with more signatures for its maintenance and improvement". Regarding the plan presented by Anacoreta Correia, the Socialist thanked him for providing the information, in line with a request made by the party at a previous meeting, but showed some concern: "the budget for soft mobility fell by 30% this year, from 12 million to 9 million, and even so it has an absolute execution lower than the previous year".
In response, Filipe Anacoreta Correia dismissed the petitions because the issue of the cycling network is "a debate that is several years old e which has always been very much alive in the city"with petitions for and against, "with great citizen participation". The Deputy Mayor said that "there's no point in talking about destroying the cycle path, that's not what's happening"explaining that "what we did in the House was a compromise solution". "The removal of the cycle path is not planned, nor has this council proposed it. What has been done is to rethink the cycle path so that it becomes bidirectional. We can see that this bidirectionality was already often practiced, for reasons of convenience, by cyclists."he added. "We recognize that it's an important cycle path and that it's also supported within the neighbourhood along the Avenue de Berne"He went on to explain that this change was also an election promise of the current President of the Avenidas Novas Parish Council.
Finally, Anacoreta Correia left an assessment of the municipality's investment in cycling mobility until the end of his term. And he left a warning: "There is a temptation to instrumentalize partisanship as if it were some who own this [cycling] agenda against the others who want to do harm to this agenda. I don't think this has helped the implementation of these measures. We can't implement solutions against the city. We have to find compromise and dialog solutions that, at the end of the day, result in an increase in cycling possibilities."
