Speed ​​cameras in the center, cars at 30 km / h and yes to bicycles in the wrong direction

Make way for bicycles. The Milan City Council increasingly nods to a “sweet” and green vision of the city, trying to find new, safe and “protected” spaces for bicycles and scooters. The line drawn is now clear: Palazzo Marino has decided to take a strong turn towards sustainable mobility, focusing on alternative means to the car and public transport, a decision undoubtedly accelerated also by the emergency of the coronavirus, which has imposed new obligations and new needs.

If the promised 35 kilometers of bike lanes are now almost a reality, the rest of the “revolution” could be driven by the new highway code that now appears to be one step away from approval. On Friday night the Senate gave its approval to the Dl Simplification, which contains the news, and in the next few days the House must do the same without major surprises.

To take stock of the situation, with a long and enthusiastic post on Facebook, was mobility councilor Marco Granelli, one of the most convinced supporters of the green revolution. It is “a historical passage, born of cities and associations, with an eye on Europe. Bicycles and pedestrians will be safer on the road next to cars. It was in the summer of 2017 when I put a white ribbon on my bicycle, the one in the “security code” field, was given to me by Guia Biscaro, president of Fiab, and from that day my commitment began. Today we change the Code ”, he exulted.

Car at 30 km / h and bicycles in the opposite direction

And the changes in the new code are actually those capable of revolutionizing the face of a city. The CDS will introduce “urban bicycle lanes: a new type of road where cars can circulate at a limited speed, max. 30 km / h, but with priority and precedence to bicycles and paying maximum attention. In Milan We will use them for counterrevolutions such as Zara-Testi, Certosa, Famagosta – Cermenate, Romagna – Campania – Mugello – Molise, Palmanova, Sempione and maybe even in the historic centers of the Milan districts where there are narrow one-way streets: for example in via F.lli Zoia in a narrow section in Quarto Cagnino, or via Caldera in Quinto Romano, or in via Morelli in Figino, or in via S. Bernardo in Chiaravalle “, announced Granelli.

And again: “The two-way cycle lane. It was not foreseen by the code, it was authorized only in very particular situations and without stops. Now it will be possible to foresee the two-way cycle on one-way streets for cars, only where the common, creating on the left side of the one-way street, even when there is a stop, a bike lane marked with a dotted line and the bicycle symbol, which allows bicycles to go one way along with cars and in the other on the bike lane. This will simplify the routes in the neighborhoods and in the 30 zones, favoring linear routes for bicycles, but in safety and regularity and mutual visibility for bicycles and cars. In Milan – revealed the councilor – For example, we could improve via Martiri Osci, a street that allows bicycles in the NoLo district to make a straight route from east to west between via Ferrante Aporti and El Trotter. And we could think of it in another way way in other 30 zones like Isola, or Corvetto, or Bovisa-Dergano “.

The “bike path” and the relationship with buses

The new highway code will then introduce the cycling race, essentially a cycle lane made only with signs dotted on the asphalt, like the one already “built” in Viale Monza. “It is a cycle lane, delimited by a white dotted line and with the symbol of the bicycle, intended for bicycles, but passable by cars. It is improved: it allows it to be used by cars only if the road is narrow and to access the stop; also introducing for the bike lanes, the advanced house; allowing the bike lane to overlap the bus stops and therefore not stop, clearly giving way to the bus. The bike lane in Milan today is already built in Puglie, Monza, Castelbarco, in the Navigli circle in a clockwise direction between the preferential bus and the sidewalk. We will use it again “, guaranteed Granelli.

As well as the cycle lane it will be used in the “lanes reserved for buses, but only if it is at least 4.30 meters wide. In Milan we could use it to help complete the cycle lane of circle 90-91 in the section of viale Serra and viale Monte Ceneri between the bridge della Ghisolfa and piazzale Lotto “.

Speed ​​cameras in the center and there are no cars outside the school.

And that’s not all. In fact, the “school zone” will also be created, which concerns the “roads near schools where cars do not circulate at the times most frequented by children and young people entering and leaving, to protect pedestrians and the environment. ambient”. the schools will be built on the experience of car-free schools, which exist today in 26 locations and in the coming weeks in probably 10 to 15 other locations close to the schools, ”Granelli said. Basically: cars will not be able to access these streets during the entrance and exit hours of the institutions.

So speed cameras, perhaps the biggest news, obviously designed to force cars to slow down. “Today in cities, speed cameras can only be placed on roads. Tomorrow it will be possible to install them, always with the authorization of the Prefect, also on roads E and F, that is to say,” urban neighborhoods “and” local “. This allows municipalities, prior notice, truthful documentation on accidents and authorization from the Prefect, to be able to place the speed camera and therefore reduce accidents in those urban streets where the risk is the investment of the pedestrian, and that is where there are straight roads and wide ones that facilitate speed, but it is in the presence of schools, homes, shops, services for which there are pedestrian crossings at risk for pedestrians ”, the commissioner stressed.

“Cities with their municipalities and with cycling associations such as Fiab and Legambiente, starting from the daily experience of seeking more safety on the road, of changing mobility to overcome traffic and pollution, have made proposals for a new balance in the street. And the government and Parliament listened to us and together we built this revolution of the highway code, starting from the cities, looking at Europe, trying to transmit the concept that pedestrians, bicycles, and cars must coexist in safety on the street. Zone 30, bike lanes, bike lanes, two-way bike lanes, school zones, speed limits, these are the recipes, which now come true in the highway code – commented a happy granelli -. Many things can be used immediately, others by updating the Regulation with the Decree, such as road signs for urban bicycle lanes, a decree expected in 60 days ”.

“A big thank you to all who worked on it, and now we continue to transform our city, starting with the neighborhoods, and with the changes we are able to make together,” promised the councilor.