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The teacher aRomanian-American Michael Horodniceanu led everything related to transportation in New York, including the Traffic Police, and coordinated large projects worth tens of billions of euros for the subway in the largest American city. He is now a professor at New York University’s Tandon School of Engineering, and heads the Department of Civil and Urban Engineering. He will work together with the new mayor of the capital, Nicușor Dan, to improve traffic in Bucharest, without asking for money for it.
„You must start by reorganizing the Bucharest transport company. Certain things can be done with minimal investment, more time and organization than financial. I think this is the first step to improve transport in Bucharest. Parking is which must be changed to give priority to movement. Changes can be made that will not require investments at the beginning, which must be made more in time, but organizational changes, ”said Horodniceanu of Digi24.
The professor spoke about trends for the fluidization of transport in large cities.
„The direction in which it is going is to give priority to pedestrians, to those who use what we call active transport – bicycles, even on foot – and not to the use of private cars. It is important to have the bus network that needs to be improved, the bike lanes, which are very important, ”he said.
„There is a whole problem with COVID-19 and it must be taken into account. Although the use of public transport does not necessarily contribute to the spread of this virus, people are careful not to travel too much with public transport, although it is necessary in any large capital. But cycling and walking are important and this is the trend in big cities. New York substantially expands its network of bike lanes and one of the proposals made by the university was to create connections, special bridges for pedestrians and bicycles, not for cars, ”said Horodniceanu.
„Bucharest is currently in a phase where people use too many private cars, there is no way for people to drive to a point, leave it there and use public transport. Bucharest, in a way, from an urban development point of view, looks more like Paris than New York, the streets are smaller, but there are many places where improvements can be made to create the possibility of much more fluid movement . When I was in Bucharest, I saw that it was best to walk or take public transport, otherwise it was absolutely impossible, ”he said.
Horodniceanu says it is important for authorities to understand how people use public transport.
„Understanding this means looking for precise and special solutions for different problems ”, he explained.
„I hope that what I will get back – because what I will do is pro bono – is to update my Romanian language and use it regularly ”, added the professor.
Editing: Monica Bonea
