«You risk your life in line for tickets»

ANCONA It’s a difficult coexistence between cars and pedestrians in Via della Loggia. The ones who pay the price are the customers of the now few commercial activities that exist on the street, including the ticket office of the Teatro delle Muse. “Those who queue risk their lives” snaps Cristina Osimani, manager of the Ancona theater’s ticket office. Where the cars whiz by a few centimeters from the queue of spectators waiting for the ticket.

The danger

“People go faster than they should go,” confirms Osimani. Because those signs limiting the maximum speed to 30 kilometers per hour seem like nothing but frills. «I’m speaking to you as a customer of the newsagent nearby, I happened to go out and find a van passing in front of me. A person absentmindedly takes a mirror to his face” testifies Niccolò Mugnai of GB Immobiliare. Then there is the issue of parking. A non-theme theme, actually. The signs are clear: cars should only pass through via della Loggia. The reality, however, is very different.

Incivility in the car

And given the particular shape of the street, a courier’s van left for a few minutes with the four arrows for a delivery is enough to create problems. “There are those who park their cars for the entire theater show” Osimani also denounces. Not only that: “It happened to us that people parked in front of the ticket office doors, preventing us from opening them.” Not to mention the exhaust fumes. «We’re keeping everything wide open but a smog gets in there that never goes away» observes the ticket office manager. Coming to the solutions, everyone has their own. «This street should really be closed to traffic, or at most open to residents only» says Osimani. You remember the works of a few years which forced the traffic to be blocked. “We survived, in fact it was great.” «From a practical point of view I would like the street to remain two-way. As a citizen I could understand a one-way street but I wouldn’t go any further” intervenes Guido Giambuzzi of Amatori. On the Ztl: «It could be a choice but only when you could make use of parking in the port area». Because «a landing platform for users is needed». So yes: “if structured with parking at acceptable distances, why not talk about ZTL?”. «By closing here it is possible that the traffic jam will move elsewhere» Mugnai points out. “Yes, it would be nice to be able to walk in this street,” he says, “but when you close a street in Ancona it’s always a disaster.”

Softer solutions? In theory there would already be traffic lights for the one-way system alternating at the two ends of the street, positioned during the latest restoration works on Via della Loggia and which never came into operation. Even on these, however, there are some doubts. «I don’t see the solutions well, we risk creating a queue in Piazza della Repubblica» says Mugnai. Even posts to protect pedestrians don’t seem like the right way. “If two vans were to meet, they wouldn’t be able to pass.” «First let’s free the center from construction sites, add more parking spaces and then we can talk about ZTL» concludes Giambuzzi.

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