Jornal de Leiria – Centro da Marinha Grande with one-way traffic later this year

The traditional center of Marinha Grande will no longer have cars. This is at least one of the recommendations of the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan for the municipality, which Paula Teles and Jorge Gorito made known on Monday, at the Business Center.

In the public presentation of the plan, which will still be taken to the council meeting, the experts propose that car traffic, which now circulates on Rua Bernardino José Gomes (side the Town Hall), be diverted from that artery, passing through Center of Marinha Grande with one-way traffic this year on a connecting axis to the west of Parque da Cerca (Largo do Luzeirão – municipal shipyards – Avenida John Beare – Rotunda das Portas Verdes – Rotunda do Vidreiro).

But, to JORNAL DE LEIRIA, Aurélio Ferreira, president of the municipality, assured that, once the plan is approved, “an intermediate solution” will be adopted later this year, with traffic on Rua Bernardino José Gomes being in one direction.

Among other measures, the plan recommends that a road interface be built on Avenida da Liberdade (in the former “Largo da Feira”), which combines buses, taxis, bicycles and car parking); that the Marinha Grande intermodal platform be implemented (trains, buses, cars, taxis, bicycles); and the intermodal platform of the Leiria/Marinha Grande High Speed ​​network was boosted.

In this “4th generation plan”, Paula Teles prioritizes the “humanization” and “decarbonization” of the city, through the expansion of pedestrianization of the traditional center, requalification of gardens, expansion of the urban public transport network and creation of more spaces cycling.

In addition to reducing the number of vehicles that circulate in the city daily, many of which are heavy, Marinha Grande should also invest in alleviating traffic on Estrada Nacional 242 (connecting to Leiria), the study proposes.

However, as the Institute of Mobility and Transport did not consider the proposal to exempt the payment of tolls at three points on the A8 (Industrial Zone of Casal da Lebre, Barosa and Leiria), “which would correspond to around 900 thousand euros per year” , the solution that is being worked on within the scope of the Leiria Region Intermunicipal Community is the creation of a hydrogen-powered bus, pointed out the president.

Aurélio Ferreira reinforced the urgency of “modifying our daily habits and encouraging the various generations, especially the younger ones, to adopt public means of transport, walking or cycling, contributing to the reduction of carbon emissions and creating urban spaces safer and healthier.”