Ekdog

About 500 of us were out demonstrating yesterday, demanding a bridge for cyclists and pedestrians be built over a dangerous stretch of highway that connects our city with a nearby village. We've been doing this for over ten years now, and we won't give up until we get our way.

There was a drone overhead filming us. I thought some of you might like to see what the demonstration looked like.

https://youtu.be/jX17rLPsYl0

Walter S

Good for you Ekdog. Make your voice heard

CliffordK

Is that a dedicated bike bridge you're on? It looks nice.

tandempower

+1

CliffordK

I found this article.
How Seville transformed itself into the cycling capital of southern Europe | Cities | The Guardian
Oh, and the "map"
Ride the City - Sevilla

It sounds like your city has made quite a bit of improvement over the past.

I think this is the SE-30 on Google.
https://www.google.com/maps/@37.3690.../data=!3m1!1e3

If you are talking about connections on the East end of that bike bridge (Puente de Hierro), then it does appear as if the connections are a bit wicked.

Adding a bridge or tunnel during original construction is probably much easier than retrofitting it on an existing road. Building, a new bridge could be very expensive, so I can imagine this being an uphill battle, but perhaps worth it in a city that is investing in bicycles.

It looks as if there are, or could be good roads/paths headed north. What is that big open area marked Charco de la Pava / Parque Vega De Triana? It would appear possible to cut a road north into the park, then connect into the city from there.

Ekdog

Yes, it's a lovely bridge that was built in 1926 for the Ibero-American Exposition, which was held three years later. After a new bridge was built in 1992, the local authorities wanted to demolish it but citizens groups managed to save it, and it now has a bus lane, a protected bike lane and a sidewalk. On the days that demonstrations are held, the bus lane is opened up to bicycles and pedestrians and buses are rerouted.

Ekdog

Yes, we've come a long way since I came over here 25 years ago and there were only a few of us who dared cycle on the city streets.

You have to take your life into your own hands by negotiating a dangerous curve along with cars that are whizzing past at speeds in excess of 100 kph if you want to cross at that point. Unfortunately, quite a few cyclists and pedestrians are doing just that on their way to work, school and so on. We hope to get this bridge built before someone is killed.

They should have thought about building a pedestrian and cyclist bridge when they built the SE-30 and effectively cut the pedestrians and cyclists from the village of San Juan off from Seville, but there are planners who think about nothing but car traffic.

There is actually a bike path that goes through the area known as Charco de la Pava, which is fine for folks who are going to the part of town that it leads to, but for those who want to cross near the Puente de Hierro, it requires quite a long detour.

As to the cost, about two million euros have been set aside for it.

Ekdog

The politicians are now saying that the bridge will be built by the end of the year, but they've said that before and have always come up with excuses as to why they couldn't keep their promises, so we're going to keep up the pressure until the bridge is a reality.

Walter S

Sounds wise. Talk is cheap. Especially for politicians

tandempower

Has anyone ever thought of having a ferry?

Ekdog

The river is easily crossed via the bridge. It's crossing the dangerous motorway that's the problem.

Dahon.Steve

I'm glad you're taking up advocacy for the carfree movement. Those bridges are not passable by bicycle and the only one is to take the train. I would not even think about risking my life walking or biking over them.

I was emailing local government officials to reopen a bridge for years! My dream finally came true as they are building a new Goethals bridge with a walk way for bikes and people. I can't wait!

Home

Ekdog

I had a look at the website. That's going to be one beautiful bridge.

Roody

It looks like you had a good turnout and a great day for it. At what level of government is this bridge project funded and approved? State, local, national? All of the above?

Ekdog

Yes, it was a lovely day. The bridge will be funded by these folks: The Regional Government of Andalusia (Junta de Andalucía).

Roody

I guess that would most closely correspond to a US state? Or maybe a confederation of several states?

Here, control of road projects is often shared by several levels of government. A single road might actually be a U.S. highway, a state highway, a county road, and a municipal street--all within just a few miles. Or the same road may pass through several cities within a very short distance. This can make it very difficult to lobby for bike lanes and what-not, and it can make regional planning into a nightmare (such as designing a metropolitan network of bike lanes).

My region has experienced this problem. I've attended a number of meetings over several years about developing a regional plan for multi-use on just one traffic corridor. As I understand it, the plan is now widely accepted, but it's real hard to get it funded because it involves so many different governments. At this rate, my teenage grandson will be an old man before there is a regional network of bike lanes around here.

Ekdog

Yes, more or less.

They never seem to have trouble getting together to build a new motorway, do they? Funny how that works.

Ekdog

I'm looking forward to the day when I can come back to this thread and share some photographs or a video of our new bridge. Hope springs eternal...