PS councillors urge Porto City Council to suspend Rua de Guerra Junqueiro refurbishment tender

PS councillors want Porto City Council to halt the public tender for the refurbishment of Rua de Guerra Junqueiro so the plans can be discussed and amended. The motion is due to be tabled at Tuesday’s council meeting.

PS motion to pause the Rua de Guerra Junqueiro refurbishment tender

The Socialists point to the petition “A Happier Guerra Junqueiro”, launched in March by a group of residents and people who use the street - including parents of children attending nearby schools - which calls for an in-depth rethink of the scheme. According to the PS, “if the Rua de Guerra Junqueiro works go ahead under the conditions currently envisaged - even with some adjustments and clarifications resulting from the dialogue that Porto City Council has established with the petitioners - the city will lose an enormous opportunity for improvement”.

They also argue that, “this project is not consistent with the vision of a greener city, more comfortable for people in Porto and other users, and safer, which was shared during the recent local election campaign by the two most-voted parties”. The PS councillors add that “there is no urgency in intervening on the street that would justify losing the opportunity to review the project and deliver works that are aligned with the concerns of the present and the future”.

“A Happier Guerra Junqueiro” petition: proposed changes and safety measures

Among several proposed alterations, the petition’s signatories - almost 1200 in total - argue for:

• The “widening of space for pedestrians and the creation of a dedicated cycle lane, even if that means removing one traffic lane and one line of parking along most of the street”.
• “Special protection for the areas around educational establishments, to increase the safety of children and of the people who accompany them to school - in many cases grandparents with reduced mobility - by reducing space allocated to cars, widening pavements, planting trees and installing street furniture for resting”.
• The “implementation or retention of specific stopping zones for dropping off and collecting children near schools”.
• The “introduction and strengthening of traffic-calming measures”.

The PS says “the proposed measures seem perfectly reasonable and achievable, in the context of a street and an area where several school facilities are located, across a wide range of educational levels, with very high use by children, young people and education professionals”.

Traffic layout and the call for a participatory project review

The councillors further highlight that Rua de Guerra Junqueiro is one-way, and that the main entry route for vehicles is Rua do Campo Alegre, which has a single lane in each direction. For that reason, they argue, it is unclear why Rua de Guerra Junqueiro “needs to have two traffic lanes in a single direction”.

As well as seeking “the suspension” of the public tender for the refurbishment contract, the PS councillors are asking for “a review of the project underpinning the refurbishment of Rua de Guerra Junqueiro, in a participatory way, including a period of public debate on the final solutions to be adopted”.