Carlos Guisasola Madrid

Madrid

Updated Friday, March 22, 2024-00:04

More than 100,000 vehicles travel daily through that great artery in the south of Madrid that is the Paseo de Santa María de la Cabeza. Some do it as an extension of the A-42, stepping on the brakes due to that 50 km/h limitation that a large radar jealously monitors. Others use it to enter the bowels of the capital, as a route from their homes. The fact is that this road that bears the name of the wife of

San Isidro Labrador

, patron saint of the capital, is a kind of estuary through which thousands of cars navigate without rest. A grayish access, the natural border of Carabanchel and Usera, which the Madrid City Council will transform during this legislature.

But it will be in 2025. And it will start, despite the initial plans, on the shore of

Usera

and not that of

Carabanchel

, as initially planned. The reason: the expansion works on Metro line 11 of the Community of Madrid in that environment. «The commitment of the City Council does not change, since we will remodel both flanks. What we are going to do is change the order of the initial forecasts that we made for the Metro works, which are of vital importance for the residents of both districts," stated yesterday

Paloma García Romero

, delegate of Works and Equipment of the Consistory. "The important thing is that in this mandate we are going to address these actions that will provide residents with more space for pedestrians, green areas and better accessibility and mobility," the municipal official added in this regard.

The project relating to the Carabanchel flank had already been drafted, in the absence of any adjustments that may be caused by the arrival of the suburban train to that area of ​​Madrid. In the case of the plan related to Usera, which is now going to be the first to be completed, although for next year, preliminary studies are being carried out to begin its drafting.

Among the main objectives of this plan is to increase the space available for pedestrians, currently quite limited, following the line of much of the remodeling carried out in the city. Of course, there would also be a commitment to promoting green areas by providing more trees, and a bike path will be incorporated into the promenade, which would converge with the Madrid Río park. In addition, the parking lot will be reorganized and the landscape quality and the concessions with the central trunk of the road would be improved, which would benefit the mobility of the environment.

More than nine million next year

In this year's budgets there was an allocation of

1.15 million euros

for the start of the works in Carabanchel. A second one was also planned, for more than

eight million

, although already for 2025. The pace of the Metro works will determine the times to distribute that investment with which to complete the metamorphosis of the Paseo de Santa María de la Cabeza. A necessary transformation that has become an obligation for political parties. The Más Madrid roadmap also contemplated a good facelift of one of the busiest roads, due to its connection with Plaza Elíptica.

And the new stations of

Comillas

and

Madrid Río

, both promoted with a good dose of neighborhood controversy due to the felling of part of the trees that accompanied them, have forced the initially planned trip to be changed. To touch up the destiny of the Paseo de Santa María de la Cabeza, which will still have to wait a few months, specifically until the dawn of 2025, to be able to change its appearance. To undergo a facelift that he has been asking for for too many years. To change those gray wrinkles for a handful of green brushstrokes. So that Santa María de la Cabeza can show off palmetto.