Bicipolitana in via 29 Maggio in Legnano, this is how it will be

(video coming soon)

In a lively public meeting the project, executive but not yet approved by the council, was presented cycle lane in via 29 maggio. In front of a room full of traders and residents – also present some representatives of environmentalist associations – this evening, 18 April, the mayor Lorenzo Radice, the councilor Marco Bianchi and Alberto Marescotti, architect specialized in interventions related to mobility, they explained the methods and purposes of the intervention, defined as “pure signage”, which is of great concern to those who manage the activities along the busy artery.

The comparison, requested by Confcommercio, follows the collection of over a thousand signatures filed last April with the request to review or stop the project. A request, the latter, which the mayor did not accept: «We evaluated other routes, such as the passage through Via Roma, but they were not taken into consideration because they would involve the elimination of numerous car parks – he explained -. In Via 29 Maggio, however, 8 parking spaces will be lost and will be recovered in the immediate vicinity (via Rosalino Pilo). What we can instead evaluate is the hypothesis of strengthening the parking disc near the station if this were to be deemed useful. We are also reopening negotiations with the owners to reopen the after-work car park.” (In the photo the renderings projected during the evening)

As already explained, bicycles must pass on the right and, for safety reasons, the arrangement of parking spaces will be reversed, bringing the in-line parking spaces to the right and the fishbone parking spaces to the leftexcept in the stretch between via Cattaneo and via Vittoria where fishbone parking with reverse entry is being evaluated: “The route of the bicipolitana is limited to rearranging what already exists”, was reiterated by the mayor. By drawing a line you will therefore delimit a lane 1.50 meters wide in order to make the road safe, without prejudice to the fact that it is a lane and not a cycle path with a curb, this may be trampled by vehicles who will still have to respect the passage of bicycles: «It is a model already applied in various municipalities in Italy and it is already the norm in Northern Europe», said Marescotti, illustrating several examples of cycle lanes designed on the side of car parks: «The street will not suffer substantial variations”.

But residents and traders continued to express doubts, especially due to the passage of buses almost every half hour: «On paper it all looks good but what you are presenting is not feasible – it has been said by several traders – this street cannot accommodate a cycle path, our work is at stake. Even a parking space taken away along the street is a loss for us.” Among the criticisms is also the presentation of the project at an already advanced stage: “this is not democracy”.

During the evening it was also said that the entire Via 29 Maggio will be asphalted and the works will take place during the summer, while the cycle lane will be built at the end of 2024 without the need to close the street.