Community of Almada requests cycle path along the metro line to Costa da Caparica

The community of Almada and associations that promote the use of bicycles demand that the Metropolitano de Lisboa, the CMA, TML and MTS, that the metro extension project to Costa de Caparica includes a continuous cycle path next to the railway canal. This measure will enhance active travel, in particular through the use of bicycles and its intermodality with public transport in Almada. This future cycle path should be complemented with a segregated pedestrian path, in order to also guarantee the safety of people walking.

After the announcement, on March 25th, that Metropolitano de Lisboa will prepare studies for the contracting of the extension of Metro Sul do Tejo to Costa de Caparica, more than 100 bicycle users from Almada and associations promoting their use came together to make this demand.

Currently, the surface metro infrastructure that exists to a large extent in the municipality of Almada, built between 2003 and 2008, does not include continuous cycle paths along the metro channels, there are only small sections of cycle path that are not connected to each other, consisting of a fragmentation of the bicycle mobility system, which results in its reduced use by the population.

“This Metro project was a missed opportunity to support and promote alternative mobilities, namely in offering more cycling networks, to encourage travel within and outside the municipality of Almada. Combining sustainable means of transport such as public transport, cycling and pedestrian mobility in the same project means ensuring a better quality of life and a more efficient use of public funds”, can be read in the statement sent to the press. “Cycling infrastructure in the municipality of Almada remains below what was foreseen in the Almada Ciclável Plan, from 2005, which envisaged the construction of around 200km of cycling network throughout the municipality and which predicted that by 2015, 5% of trips in the municipality would be carried out by bicycle. . Having failed to achieve its own goals, Almada is on the verge of failing to converge on the national commitment established in the National Strategy for Active Cycling Mobility 2020-2030 (ENMAC), which predicts that by 2025, 4% of trips in Almada will be made by bicycle , reaching 10% by 2030”.

In the open letter, the subscribers still speak of a “lack of interest and public investment”, giving the example of the recent announcement of the widening of the IC20 road to four lanes, which motivated a public petition, with more than 2,500 signatures, demanding complementarity and improvement in more public transport and more infrastructure for active mobility instead of just roads for cars.