The protest for the no to road axes continues with wide participation, a major work for the road system which aims to move heavy vehicles away from the Lucca ring road and from the central areas of Capannori. According to Forum for Environmental Protection and Citizens’ Health, this perspective is misleading and the project is now dated and outdated, without taking into account solutions for alternative mobility.
This is what he reiterated this morning (18 May) Umberto Franchicoordinator of the Forum, at the garrison organized under the Praetorian Loggia of Piazza San Michele. Those present showed the 5000 signatures collected for the popular petition against the road axes.
“These 5 thousand signatures demonstrate that a large part of the citizens agree on our proposals that have this meaning: the blocking of the unfortunate road axes project and the opening of a confrontation with the mayor of Lucca, Capannori and the Tuscany Region – he declares Umberto Franchi, coordinator of the Forum for Environmental Protection and Citizens’ Health -. We don’t just say no, we carry it forward an alternative based on a surface tramway capable of linking the city center to the entire suburbs, the strengthening of the three railway networksLucca – Viareggio, Florence – Lucca – Aulla and Lucca – Pisa, to which we add a new implementation of cycle paths with parking spacesin order to transform what is already there today into something useful also on an environmental level”.
“As far as peripheral traffic is concerned, we aim to reduce it through these proposals – continues the coordinator -. The fairy tale of those who say that road axes would be useful for reducing traffic in the suburbs is a liebecause we are in the presence of a distorted development, where there are non-local shopping centers, service centers, non-local companies, citizens, workers who go to these places and companies, even the trucks that have to transport, goods, to the shopping center, are forced to take these streets. The city of Lucca has more streets than all the other cities in Tuscany, precisely because we are in the presence of distorted development. Then we need to intervene so that there is a direction, also in the perspective of an urban plan, which is functional to reduce road traffic. Only by implementing the service regarding surface trams, state railways and cycle paths can we move towards this reduction. However, what must be said – concludes Franchi – is that citizens know very well that these road axes cannot be built, because they would have a devastating environmental impact both on the environment and on themselves and their health, all this to allow a business worth 173 million euros, which someone wants to carry forward. We cannot allow this.”
The collection of 5000 citizen signatures took place thanks to the commitment of Forum for Environmental Protection and Citizens’ Health, together with: the Altristrade committee, the committee in defense of the Lammari lakes, the Senza confine association, the San Concordio committee, Legambiente Lucca, Capannori and Piana lucchese.
Now the protest will continue with the signature protocol and the sending of a letter to the Tuscany Region, the Province of Lucca, the Municipality of Lucca and Capannori, to request a joint meeting between all the bodies involvedthe associations and committees that form the Forum, to be carried out quickly before the Services Conference on the project.
The purpose of the meeting “must be a serious discussion on the contents of the popular petition which concerns the blocking of the road axes project and the examination of the proposed alternative mobility proposals”.
Among the proposals include: “the construction of a large-area surface tramway, the serious use of the railway network and the freight yards on the Piana, in Mediavalle and in Garfagnana, the doubling of the Frizzone freight yard, the activation of the railway sections already built, the development of a modal interchange system and the implementation of the cycle network with safe routes”.
