Cycle path in Largo de São Sebastião dies before it is born

Although the requalification works in Largo de São Sebastião have already started, o The execution project is now being altered to meet the concerns of the Avenidas Novas Parish Council and some residents. Among the changes to the originally planned project is the removal of the cycling counter-flows that would allow bicycles to circulate from Praça de Espanha and Picoas/Marquês. In its place, 25 car parking spaces will be implemented.

In an information from SRU, the municipal works company, to which LPP had access, the following can be read: "The dedicated bike lane will not be deployed. Alternatively, the bicycle circuits will be carried out through shared unidirectional corridors in line with the direction of circulation on the highway and its continuity to the remaining existing network. With this change 25 parking spaces will be added in Largo de São Sebastião and Rua Nicolau Bettencourt."

Presented at the end of March to the population, o Largo de São Sebastião's requalification project foresaw a cycling circuit composed of a shared lane in the general traffic direction and a segregated lane so that bicycles could circulate in the opposite direction, forbidden for cars. This model would then allow those coming from the Praça de Espanha or Duque d'Ávila cycling paths to go through Largo de São Sebastião to Picoas/Marquês de Pombal, and vice-versa. In the planning of the city's cycling network, the axis of the street next to the Gulbenkian and Largo de São Sebastião was thought as a alternative for bicycle circulation in relation to Avenida António Augusto Aguiar.

Without the counterflows in the Largo and Rua Nicolau Bettencourt, cyclists will share the lane with other vehicles, which means they will also have to follow the general direction of traffic. Thus, those who want to go from Praça de Espanha to Largo de São Sebastião by bicycle will not be able to do so directly, but will be able to use the streets around the square, which will have 30+bicycle markings. With the cycling channel removed, the future square will have 25 additional parking spaces. This means that, if before the construction project foresaw the elimination of a hundred parking spaces, now the reduction will be less significant.

The requalification of the Largo de São Sebastião is a work that will cost about 2.50 million euros and that he had a moment of public participation between December 2018 and May 2019during which the interested population was consulted, first through an online survey and, finally, with a face-to-face session to present the project, promoted by the City Hall and by the Avenidas Novas Parish Council. However, in March of this year, before the works progressed, the Parish Council - which was one of those that changed political colors in the last elections, from the coalition of Medina to the coalition of the New Times - promoted a new presentation of the project. At that meeting, some people questioned the need for the bike path and claimed parking problems in the area. The SRU, responsible for the intervention, had then defended the existence of the cycling channel.

SRU explains, in the same written information, that the the construction project was reanalyzed "seeking to accommodate the suggestions and complaints of the citizens and users of the public space to be requalified in Largo de São Sebastião and confluent streets"in advance that this revision has "in consideration of the legal limits to be respected with respect to the current construction contract". At this week's public town hall meetingJoana Almeida, Vereadora of Urban Planning, reiterated that in the presentation made in March "there were some complaints regarding parking and difficulty entering the garages" and that "those resident concerns" have now been welcomed by the municipal services.

In addition to the elimination of the segregated cycling channel, the SRU and the City Council also decided not to implement "for now" the planned kiosk, but "the associated infrastructure will be installed for possible future deployment". The kiosk could bring some dynamism and activity to the future plaza. It will also be created a new access through Rua António Cândido to private garages that will be in the square area, "conditioning its access and deploying traffic bollards"to allow residents to enter these garages without having to make a major turn - This concern with less travel effort does not seem to have existed for bicycle users.

According to the SRU, the plan with the changes is still being prepared by the Public Space Department of the City Hall. PS and Livre criticized the elimination of the bike path in this week's City Council meeting. Pedro Anastácio, socialist councilman, criticized Moedas' executive for cutting the cycling path in the Largo de São Sebastião project "thought out and planned by the PS"reiterating that it had been the subject of a public participation process. "You often say that you listen to people. I wanted to understand what kind of people you listen to and if you only agree with people who agree with you and if, when they don't agree you do another session until they agree. We've already seen that in Almirante Reis"he lamented. Carlos Teixeira, councillor for Free, said that "the balance that had been found in terms of parking, new mobility, inclusion of a bike lane, had already been a balance found in the public participation of residents and townspeople" made in 2018/19.

Note that this is not the first time that a public space requalification project in Lisbon is changed to accommodate more car parking. In 2016, the intervention in the Central Axis between Entrecampos and Marquês de Pombal, carried out when Fernando Medina (PS) was still Mayor, planned the elimination of about 300 places, but the project ended up being changed for that reduction to be only 60 places. The intervention foresaw two one-way bike paths on Avenida da República, one in each direction, but ended up being built a single two-way bike path on one side.