Integrated accessibility planning

Summary

Asprela is characterized by severe mobility problems. Illegal parking and congestion had reached critical dimensions, despite a fairly good public transport service in the quarter.

Implementing sustainable mobility

The main objectives of the measure were to:
Create the conditions for a successful sustainable mobility case through participatory mobility planning and achieve a modal shift and improve mobility of the Asprela area.
The mobility plan would consider all modes of transport and include issues of land use, environmental and operational concerns. The proposed measures would be developed by a technical team and once implemented will go a thorough evaluation.

Progress

During 2009 the technical team gathered several data mobility indicators. These indicators were assigned by the public transport measure partners. It was also developed traffic counts and mobility inquiries on the majority part of the viary intersections of the Asprela quarter.
During 2010 the municipality and the technical team promoted a local parking study to characterize the illegal parking problems.
During 2011 the municipality promoted a door-by-door mobility questionnaire on the Asprela quarter in order to get to know the inhabitants mobility issues. The technical team produced a new circulation plan with microscopic simulation. Seventeen scenarios were studied, one of them presented major benefits to the viary circulation.
This scenario was presented to the main stakeholders and inhabitants. There were no conditions to implement it. The municipality and the technical team accorded to continue the project maintaining the actual viary ways. In September, the infrastructure works started.

Outcomes

What was implemented:

• A new cycle lane all over the Asprela quarter;
• Better pedestrian mobility and accessibilities;
• Better public transport facilities;
• Public transport priority on traffic lights intersection;
• Viary junctions redesigned for more safety;
• A new traffic light intersection.

At this moment the measure is fully implemented and is on evaluation process. The traffic counts made in 2009, the illegal parking study made on 2010 and the mobility questionnaires door-by-door made on 2011 were repeated in order to obtain the before and after evaluation report.