Cyclists complain about the poor safety of this bike path since it no longer has bollards, especially at night since it is on a poorly lit street.
The cycle path on Rua Professor Pinto Peixoto, in Telheiras, is one of the oldest in Lisbon. It was part of the ring than Sá Fernandes, in 2009I imagined in the cityThe idea was to create a continuous corridor that would allow people to cycle around Lisbon and connect its different green spaces. In the meantime, the political strategy has changed, with a network of more than 150 km and the bicycle being seen primarily as a means of urban and utilitarian transportation. But Lisbon's first cycle paths, such as this one, are still available and tell the story of a city that not so long ago was just beginning to take its first pedal strokes.
In 2020, while expanding the cycling network with various interventions pop-up, a Lisbon City Council improved some of the oldest links, such as the cycle path on Rua Professor Pinto Peixoto. This section was built more than a decade ago with a bidirectional typology, but without bollards or any other type of physical segregation - the separation between the cycle path and the road next to it was only a continuous line and a difference in color on the surface.
Years later, the cycle path received some rubber bollards in the areas with the least visibility, i.e. the bends, according to Google Street View images from 2014 prove it. Last year, many of these bollards were already damaged and the municipality decided to put in new bollards, this time along the entire length of the cycle path, increasing the safety of users, especially those traveling in the opposite direction to car traffic (the street has only one lane).
Strangely, almost all the bollards put up just over a year ago have been removed and are piled up at the end of the street. Only a few survived. Sofia has been using this bike path since 2013. She lives in Benfica and the stretch is part of her commute weekly to the National Library in Entrecampos; he was unable to cycle due to a knee operation and when he returned he found the cycle path without the segregation bollards. "I haven't walked for about a month and a half, so I don't know the timing of the withdrawal"but "The lack of bollards makes the cycle path very unsafe at night. I come from the Entrecampos-Benfica direction and cars cross me in the opposite direction on this cycle path, which is on a very poorly-lit street."he said in a message to Lisboa Para Pessoas.
Cristina also uses this stretch on her way to work, between Telheiras and Baixa. "It's the second time they've put pins here and they're always destroyed", laments, suggesting another solution for the site by a "a question of common sense and not squandering public funds" - instead of rubber segregators, a stone kerb separating the cycle path from the road, as is the case in other parts of the city and even in Telheiras. Cristina told Lisboa Para Pessoas that she had already, "twice", saw the streetcar knocking down bollards on this cycle path. But, "I don't know if this raid was done all at the same time". "There are lots of children on bicycles, skateboards, etc. on that stretch. There's a bend that's particularly dangerous because of the lack of visibility of the cars to the road, due to the high wall." and, moreover, there "cars reverse out of the parking lot".
Clarrisse lives on that street and uses the bike lane, which she sees as "an enormous privilege, regardless of all its flaws". He told Lisboa Para Pessoas that he had already seen the car-racer knocking down the bollards that the cycle path used to have. "I think a solution like the one on Almirante Reis would be more appropriate. And I can't understand why the previous bollards were replaced with something similar." On the Almirante Reis one-way cycle pathThe segregation of the cycle lane is done by means of a small rubber "bump" from Zicla, which allows a car to enter the cycle lane if necessary, and also allows emergency vehicles to use the cycle lane.
Bartolomeu uses the cycle path every day to drop his son off at nursery school, but not by bike. "I do it on foot, because there are no decent sidewalks to walk along with the baby carriage on the route I have to take"he says in an e-mail sent to Lisboa Para Pessoas after this article was first published. In April, he left an incident on the On My Street. "At the time there were few bollards removed, and I thought it was the cars that knocked them down. As soon as I saw one knocked down, I would diligently replace it, but there wasn't much I could do without the right fixings." Now, Bartolomeu has no doubt that it's the Junta de Freguesia's cleaning cart that knocks down the bollards because of their width. "The very bollards at the bottom have tire/brush marks. It has to be said that before the elections it was rare to see any street cleaning." He shared two photos with us.
Francisco, on the other hand, believes that "everything went well" when the bike path in question had no bollards and that, "when they put them in, they made it very difficult for vehicles to maneuver when parking and other maneuvers" for passing the "there is only one effective and permanent roadway". Francisco points out the "parking maneuvers" and the "habitual acts of vandalism" as the cause of the bollards being knocked down, but also the cleaning of the cycle path by the Parish Council. "Recognizing that the limitation of the bike lane will have to be a reality, I suggest that it be implemented in the same way as the existing one on Av. Almirante Reis - low and sturdy physical markings. This example safeguards all interests: safety, traffic, parking and public cleanliness."
Lisboa Para Pessoas contacted Lisbon City Council, EMEL and the Lumiar Parish Council, but so far has received no reply, except from EMEL, which has referred questions about this stretch of bike path to the council. The cleaning of this cycle path is the responsibility of the Parish Council.
Article updated on 24/11/2021 with new testimonies received by email.
