For some time, La Rambla, one of the city's most popular icons, has needed a renovation. Damaged pavement, holes in the asphalt where cars circulate, abandoned telephone booths, or electricity network cabinets in poor condition are some of the elements that show the neglect of this promenade, where Barcelonians do not usually pass and tourists have not saturated traffic for months, another sign of its solitude.
After years of delays, as reminded by the counter that Amics de la Rambla installed above the Cafè de la Ópera, the Barcelona City Council approved this Tuesday the executive project that will allow the transformation of La Rambla, with the votes in favor of all municipal groups. The president of Amics de la Rambla, Fermín Villar, celebrates this step forward, but remains expectant, waiting to see the specifics of the executive project and the planned schedule, after hearing too many unfulfilled promises.
Ada Colau's government plans to start works next year that will transform La Rambla into a more comfortable, green, and cultural promenade, with more space for pedestrians, better organization of uses, relocating newsstands and flower stalls, and more leisure proposals, such as the Tast a la Rambla or concerts in Plaza Reial. Firstly, all this will translate into reducing the space allocated for vehicle circulation. Cars will have a single lane on each side, 3.5 meters wide. This reduction will allow the side sidewalks to grow, which will have a width of a minimum of 3 meters, with the aim of making it easier to walk calmly in front of the shops and establishments that surround the promenade. The central part will also be widened on both sides, allowing for an improvement in both pedestrian space and the space for trees, which will see their tree pits grow.
The sidewalk and the road will be at the same level and will only be separated by bollards. In this promenade that will go from facade to facade, new rest areas will be created under the trees and there will be benches and chairs on the sides of the central section and under the shade of the trees. Vehicle traffic will be restricted to residents, access to parking lots, bicycles, buses, goods distribution and service vehicles, as is currently the case in the ascending direction.
In the future Rambla for pedestrians, three intersections will be redefined, which will become single-platform squares, located in the Moja-Betlem, Pla de la Boqueria and Pla del Teatre areas. Likewise, in the area between the Columbus monument and Drassanes, a new urban space will be generated, characterized by the presence of trees with green and draining pavements.
One of the elements of the Rambla that will also be transformed will be the pavement that has given it character but causes many maintenance problems. The new one, which will no longer be accompanied by the asphalt of the sidewalks, will have pieces of different formats of natural stone, granite and porphyry. The lighting will be another of the elements that will change, going on to have a unique, simpler and more functional design.
The reform will have a total budget of 44.56 million euros and the municipal government plans to include a first item in next year's budgets, yet to be specified. The works will have five phases and the first will begin in 2022 in the Colón-Santa Madrona section. With the end of the concession, next year the eleven kiosks of former bird sellers at the beginning of the promenade, which now sell multiple products for tourists, will also be removed. In this area, space will be gained for pedestrians and rest areas will be created.