As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the old part of Vlaska Street, between Draskoviceva and Palmoticeva, is set to become an exclusively pedestrian zone, which will be welcome news to some, and a source of irritation to others. The profession is worried that the move will create traffic jams on other roads in the centre, while the City of Zagreb says that this is just the beginning of the expansion of pedestrian zones in the very centre of the city.
The project of adapting that part of Stara Vlaska (the old part of Vlaska Street) into a zone intended only for pedestrians starts on May the 28th and has been conceived in different phases:
“In the first phase, road traffic will be closed and the installation of planters with trees will begin, which will also be benches. The terraces of the cafes will remain as they are now, and we will bring some stands in for craftsmen. We’ll mark the opening of the pedestrian zone with a concert and children from three nearby schools will draw on the pavements, with the help of some local street artists,” said Deputy Mayor Luka Korlaet.
He added, according to a report from HRT, that about 10 parking spaces on that stretch of Vlaska Street will be abolished. Assistant professor Marko Sevrovic from the Institute for Traffic Planning pointed out two problems of such an intervention when it comes to traffic:
“What will happen to the vehicles that use that street to head to the east? If you’re going from the north and want to go east, you’ll have to go all the way down to Djordjiceva. Now the question is how this will affect the traffic there. Traffic is very similar to liquid – if you close it off somewhere, it will just go somewhere else. In addition to that, there’s the issue of the pedestrian crossing on Palmoticeva. There will be two separate pedestrian zones with a very busy Palmoticeva between them in this case,” he said.
A traffic light is offered as a solution for crossing what will then be a very busy Palmoticeva.
This is just the beginning of work on expanding the pedestrian zones in Zagreb’s bustling and always busy city centre, and Korlaet concluded the following:
“The plan is also to turn Masarykova Street, so the entire promenade stretching to the Croatian National Theatre, into a pedestrian zone.”
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