Buenos Aires enacts restrictions on downtown automobile traffic

[sandensea]

Last edited Sun Aug 5, 2018, 12:20 PM - Edit history (1)

An ordinance enacted in Buenos Aires, Argentina, seeks to substantially limit automobile and other motor vehicle traffic over a 100-block area in the city's congested downtown.

The ordinance, effective Tuesday April 3, mandates that all private vehicles, including motorcycles, require a permit decal to circulate along any downtown street on weekdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

An electronic monitoring system installed two years ago will help enforce the ordinance - as well as fines that start at $50 for the first infraction. Residents and the disabled will be granted said permit, which costs $75 a year, free of charge.

Only the four main avenues within the designated zone (Córdoba, Sáenz Peña, de Mayo, and Roca) will remain exempt.

While these restrictions are only partial, they are part of a package of measures passed by the City Legislature in 2016 to prioritize public transport and promote pedestrian circulation in the downtown area, home to many of the nation's governmental and corporate headquarters.

Other restrictions enacted since 2012 have already reduced the number of cars in the area's narrow streets - most dating from the 18th century - from 15,000 hourly in 2011, to around 2,100 currently. Of the 4,000 motorcycles in the area hourly, however, around 75% commit parking infractions - mainly couriers and delivery personnel.

Nearly a million pedestrians circulate through downtown Buenos Aires daily. The first such ordinance was applied in 1913 to the city's boutique-lined Florida Street promenade, which was made fully pedestrian in 1971.

At: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.infonews.com%2Fnota%2F314532%2Fdesde-este-martes-los-autos-particulares&edit-text=

Downtown Buenos Aires. Traffic restrictions has made the area more pedestrian friendly in recent years.

[Judi Lynn]

1. So much healthier for people to walk as part of their daily life, too, isn't it?

It's healthier without the car fumes, of course, and eliminates the opportunity for lunatic wingers to leap into their cars or rented trucks and run down pedestrians, as well.

Wouldn't think there could be a downside to this. It looks like a user-friendly decision.

Hope more and more cities will give hard thought to studying this solution to improve quality of life. It offers fresh air, exercise, and makes a trip downtown more of an event in a safer environment.

Love the trees and other botanical presences, too.









ETC., ETC., ETC.

Thank you, sandensea.