VALENCIA'S city hall square will become permanently pedestrianised from the day after its massive Fallas festival next year, mayor Joan Ribó has announced.
Spain's third-largest metropolitan area – home to around 750,000 people and a hugely-popular international tourism destination – has been leaning more towards 'walker-friendly' policies since the current left-wing regional party, Compromís, gained power in local government in 2015 after 24 years under right-wing PP rule.
One of its first moves was to cut speed limits in city-centre streets to 30 kilometres per hour, which has made it much safer for pedestrians.
Now, the Plaza del Ayuntamiento (city hall square) will be revamped, landscaped with garden areas, and shut to traffic from March 20, 2020.
This even means buses will not use the three-acre (12,000-square-metre) plaza, so almost certainly precludes taxis from entering, too.
But given that those with mobility problems will still need to get to, and about, the square, a new single bus route – the C1 – will be created, running every four or five minutes.
Sustainable mobility councillor Giuseppe Grezzi and councillor for resident participation Elisa Valía say the C1 will cross the existing bus and taxi lane on the east side of the plaza, close to the post office headquarters, between C/ San Vicente and C/ Marqués de Sotelo, connecting with the interchanges between C/ Porta de la Mar and C/ Tetuán, and C/ Lluís Vives, C/ Marqués de Sotelo and C/ Xàtiva – which is directly outside the main Valencia North train station and next to the metro stop of the same name from which lines 3 and 5 lead directly to the airport.
Loading and unloading will still be permitted via access from the C/ Periodista Azzati and C/ Marqués de Sotelo in the C/ Roger de Lauria direction, which will also allow residents to enter their underground parking spots in the latter street.
Grezzi says the Plaza del Ayuntamiento – one of the most beautiful, vibrant and architecturally picturesque parts of the city – is 'part of our emotional landscape' and 'a centre that radiates towards the suburbs'.
The decision to pedestrianise the square is not a sudden one: the city council has been 'rehearsing' it for the last four years by closing it to traffic on the last Sunday of every month, with markets, fêtes, concerts, food fairs and other, similar street entertainment.
“We've always found the results to be positive – it's always been full,” Joan Ribó reveals.
He says it will have benches and shaded areas, trees and flowers, so as to switch from 'a square full of traffic to a square full of people'.
The first photograph above (both taken by Valencia city council) shows a digital mock-up of what the new Plaza del Ayuntamiento is expected to look like after next year's March Fallas festivals.
