After a few years having considered eliminating two traffic lanes on the 2nd Circular to make way for a green corridor and reducing the speed limit on that lane from the current 80 km/h to 50 km/h, Lisbon City Council seems to have other plans for what is one of the busiest (and congested) roads in the capital.
The idea was revealed by Miguel Gaspar, councilor for mobility at the Lisbon City Council, in an interview with “Transportes em Revista” and confirms that, despite having abandoned plans to create a green corridor, the municipal executive continues to plan to change deeply into the 2nd Circular.
According to Miguel Gaspar, the plan involves creating a transport system in the central axis of the 2nd Circular, stating that the council is “studying the possibility of placing a transport system in its central axis, which could be a light rail or a BRT (Busway)”.
A municipal or regional project? that is the question
According to Miguel Gaspar, the municipal executive already knows where to place stops and how to take people to them, saying: “we managed to place stops next to Benfica train station, in the Colombo area, in Torres de Lisboa, Campo Grande, Airport (…) and on Avenida Marechal Gomes da Costa, then connecting to Gare do Oriente”.
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Given the certainties that the Lisbon City Council already seems to have about the project, the question that arises is whether this will be an exclusive project of the Lisbon municipality or whether it will include other municipalities in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (AML).
Miguel Gaspar, councilor for mobility at the Lisbon City CouncilTo access the boarding areas, people will only have to go up or down a flight of stairs
According to Miguel Gaspar, the second option is the most likely, with the councilor noting: “We are more inclined towards this last hypothesis, because later this system can fit into CRIL with the BRT corridor of the A5. This will allow for something extraordinary, which is the direct connection from Oeiras and Cascais to the airport and Gare do Oriente”.
With regard to the creation of inter-municipal plans, Miguel Gaspar reinforced the idea, referring to “two thirds of the people who work in Lisbon do not live in the city. And that is why the CML has always been saying that mobility in Lisbon is only solved when the problem of the Metropolitan Area is solved”.
the other plans
According to Miguel Gaspar, plans are planned such as the Alcântara, Ajuda, Restelo, São Francisco Xavier and Miraflores connection (via a light/tramway); the creation of a public transport corridor between Santa Apolónia and Gare do Oriente or the extension of the 15 tram route to Jamor and Santa Apolónia.
The councilor also mentioned that another of the projects on the table is the creation of a BRT corridor (busway) in the Alta de Lisboa area.
Within the scope of the AML, Miguel Gaspar referred that there are projects to connect Algés to Reboleira (and the Sintra and Cascais lines); Paço d'Arcos ao Cacém; Odivelas, Ramada, Hospital Beatriz Ângelo and Infantado and the Gare do Oriente to Portela de Sacavém, and it is being discussed whether these connections should be by light rail or BRT.
Source: Transport in Review