With the aim of reinforcing Puerta del Sol as a "meeting point" for locals, the Madrid City Council begins the remodeling of this emblematic space in the capital, whereby from today - the day the space closes to traffic - and to always - or at least in the immediate future - cars will stop passing through here, thus becoming a zero emissions zone.
In total, pedestrians will gain 5,546 more square meters of space after this reform of the Puerta del Sol and its surroundings. In total, kilometer zero will have a full 16,751 square meters for passersby, which is equivalent to slightly more than two football fields.
This action by the Environment and Mobility Area, led by Councilor Borja Carabante (PP), comes into force today with the publication of the decree, and with it, one of the most important measures of the Madrid 360 Environmental Sustainability Strategy is fulfilled. , the plan with which the Madrid City Council intends to comply with the European directive on air quality and supply Madrid Central, the project of the Executive of Manuela Carmena that was recently overthrown by the courts, but which will remain in force until the Supreme Court resolves the appeals raised.
With the definitive pedestrianization of Puerta del Sol, a plan announced by the mayor, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, on September 17, Calle Mayor becomes pedestrianized as it passes through Puerta el Sol; Alcalá street between Sevilla and Sol; Carrera de San Jerónimo between Plaza de Canalejas and Kilometer Zero; Espoz and Mina between Calle de la Cruz and Carrera de San Jerónimo; and Calle de la Victoria between Calle de la Cruz and Carrera de San Jerónimo. Esparteros street , meanwhile, will undergo a change of direction.
In this way, up to almost 7,000 daily commutes that took place in the surroundings of this enclave of the city, the majority of taxis, will be reduced to zero.
"No other government team made this decision, but we understand that this is a determining element," said the Madrid mayor last Monday, adding that in terms of environmental sustainability "deeds are better than words." The pedestrianization has the approval of the opposition, including Más Madrid, the previous government team, which nevertheless sees it as "insufficient" and calls for new pedestrian spaces in all districts.
The 5,546 square meters that the plaza gains for pedestrians are distributed in six sections of road as follows: 1,555 m2 of Puerta del Sol; 1,448 m2 of Calle Alcalá; 945 m2 of the San Jerónimo race; 817 m2 from Espoz y Mina street; 546 m2 from Calle de la Victoria, and 235 m2 from Calle Mayor.
Madrid will not modify the appearance of Sol for the moment, where traffic will be cut with vertical signs and mobility agents, a provisional formula that the councilman defends due to the urgency of the pandemic. The renovation works will begin in 2021 and will end in 2022, recycling the winning design of a contest of the Consistory and the Official College of Architects of Madrid carried out in 2014, during the mandate of Ana Botella, and that was prepared by the architects Ignacio Linazasoro and Ricardo Sánchez.
With the aim of "recovering the original character of the square as it was in the nineteenth century", the project - about which there may be changes - would consist of the oval area in the northern part of the square, which extends from the Entrance through Arenal Street to Alcalá Street, it would be delimited by a row of unified stone benches with lights at their base and, in each of the two corners, the statue of El Oso y el Madroño and La Mariblanca would be located.
In this way, the central part would be emptied and only a fountain and a small stage would be located there while on the other side, close to the Royal Post Office, the statue of Carlos III would be located, today in the central part.
The City Council has sent more than 40,000 letters to inform neighbors and merchants, distributed explanatory brochures and placed 3,800 informational posters on the portals before a traffic closure that affects ten bus lines: daytime 3, 5, 15, 20, 51 , 53 and 150 and owls N16, N25 and N26.
EMT staff will report these changes from early in the morning in Sol about these changes and cars entering the pedestrian zone from today will have to pay penalties of 90 euros.
Pedestrianization has provoked criticism from the Cavas La Latina neighborhood association, which denounces the impact on mobility, especially for older people and accuses the mayor of isolating the neighbors while turning the center into a theme park and Sol and its surroundings into a "shopping center on public roads."
In a letter sent to the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, they disfigure an action that in their opinion only seeks an economic purpose and that generates a “papier-mâché” image of the neighborhood by eliminating transport. "It appears on the outside, but behind it is false," they say.
They accuse the PP and Ciudadanos team of "isolating" the neighborhood, in which, they say, only need to fence to ask for entry to enter. Among his concerns is the end of the passage of bus line 3, used by the elderly to go to the Cortes health center -together with the Congress- and an accessible way to go to Puerta de Toledo, since not even this Metro station Neither the one in Latina has an elevator. The detours of the bus lines make it necessary to walk "several kilometers", they say.
Meanwhile, Más Madrid, the main opposition group, asked that the project to reform the Puerta del Sol be improved, a minimalist design that was not applied in 2014 and against which Más Madrid asks for trees and vegetation to avoid the model of "Hard square". The councilor of Más Madrid José Luis Nieto defended in statements to Efe that to "really bet on sustainability" Madrid Central must be defended in court, "rather than an action in an area that is already practically pedestrianized like Sol and its surroundings."
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