Coimbra City Council will move forward with an application for an elevator in Monumentais

Coimbra City Council will move forward with an application to build an elevator next to the Monumental stairs, budgeted at 1.8 million euros, to compensate for the fact that the MetroBus does not go to Pole I of the University.

The Coimbra City Council already has a favorable opinion from the former Regional Directorate of Culture of the Center (DRRC), after a first negative opinion, to move forward with the construction of an elevator next to the monumental stairs, the councilor with the portfolio of mobility and urbanism of the Municipality, Ana Bastos.

According to the person responsible, the Municipality will submit an application to the PT2030 community framework, with its implementation dependent on the approval or not of financing, as the project has an estimated investment of 1.8 million euros.

For Ana Bastos, this is a way of mitigating the Mondego Mobility System (SMM) not going to Pole 1 of the University of Coimbra, ensuring a mechanical means that facilitates movement between Praça da República and the university Alta.

“The elevator will be a complex project, requiring excavation. There is an entrance hall [na base das monumentais] which is underground and the tower will be barely visible and intrusive, given that we are talking about an area classified by UNESCO”, he highlighted.

The Municipality’s intention would be to have the elevator ready when the SMM Hospital Line starts (which should only be operational at the end of 2025), but Ana Bastos admitted that the deadlines will depend on how quickly the financing can be assigned.

Previously, it was foreseen in the SMM execution project, within the scope of the Hospital Line, the creation of “Navete”, a minibus service that would ensure circulation between Praça da República (which is served by the SMM) and the university Alta.

“This solution tends not to work, because it would be another transshipment. It was a long, complex circuit that would not be captivating. Navete would also have another problem, which would be to destroy three large plane trees on Avenida Sá da Bandeira and this possibility contributed to its failure”, explained Ana Bastos.

On March 28, Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP) concluded a direct agreement worth 220 thousand euros with Profico to change the SMM implementation project, a system with electric buses on a dedicated track that will circulate in Coimbra, also serving the municipalities of Lousã and Miranda do Corvo.

In the specifications that the Lusa agency consulted, IP justifies the need to change the execution project, after interactions with the Coimbra City Council.

One of the changes in the SMM implementation project will be the suppression of the Navete on the Hospital Line (where there will also be changes in terms of road safety), and changes to the project are also planned in the contract for the section between Portagem and Coimbra-B, to accommodate urban solutions different from the initial one, namely the pedestrianization of Avenida Aeminium.

“There are no changes to the channel [do SMM]”, highlighted Ana Bastos, highlighting that, above all, the changes are related to urban arrangements, giving the example of the end of the roundabout next to Ponte-Açude (which is no longer necessary with the pedestrianization of Avenida Aeminium).