Paradoxically, the bad weather is easing the traffic grip on the city and Lake Como a little, but there are every signs of another hot summer on the road system. How can you escape the grip of traffic caused by tourist flows? Is there a recipe for improving traffic and road safety for all users? Lawyer Enrico Gelpi, former president of the national Aci and number one of the Automobile Club Como for decades, offers a series of reflections on the matter that are difficult not to share. There is no shortage of references to the need to plan cities and towns at an urban level, even with new settlements. Below is his contribution.
Lake Como benefits from the tourism promotion carried out in recent years by the competent bodies and private tourist entrepreneurs-operators, as well as from the presence of VIPs from entertainment and sport who have acted as involuntary testimonials. The problem now is the management and organization of tourism, or if we want the optimization of the effects of tourism promotion. Especially for road traffic.
Two roads in particular, the state road 340 Regina and the provincial road 583 Lariana for Bellagio. The Regina, which we remember is a state road managed by Anas because it connects Italy and Switzerland, has been in a critical situation for some time, especially in the Colonno-Menaggio section. Now add the construction traffic for the construction works (mainly in the tunnel) of the Tremezzina variant and the exponential increase in heavy traffic, especially tourist traffic. In the general interest, and in the public safety and liveability of residents, it becomes essential to regulate not so much the access but the transit methods. This is because it is not possible to foresee, as in other parts of Italy, a sort of large Ztl or widespread Ztl, precisely for the transit function of connection between States, and, as regards the Regina branch (from Menaggio to Colico ), inter-provincial connection.
Smoother mobility on rubber which also has the advantage of making driving safer. This is what the new Anas ordinance aims to achieve, but I read that it is already the subject of new appeals to the TAR. But I completely agree with the prefect of Como, Andrea Polichetti, who put the general public interest first (I’m thinking for example of the difficulties in moving emergency medical vehicles, firefighters, with emergency vehicles often bottled up in narrow passages with serious danger to those involved who require urgent rescue services).
The various particular interests, which are certainly entirely legitimate, must be convinced of the need to reconcile these with the need for traffic fluidity and safety. At the same time, further strengthen the public transport service by road and by lake, as Asf is already doing with the establishment of new lines (C25) and the strengthening of existing ones (C20 and C10), I am thinking of the evening shuttle between Argegno and Menaggio) and that for Bellagio (C30), or Lake Navigation with the increase in frequency of the main routes.
Pedestrian traffic has also increased (see queues in Como on the lakeside, or the enormous flow of people who come to Como by train, both on the Northern line and at the central station) or the crowding of the piers in the main tourist locations, and here the mandatory online booking, the single ticket and access planning could be useful to better organize this type of tourist presence. We must therefore invest in technology and in communication and information for users.
Then we need greater attention to urban planning, with master plans (Pgt) and implementation plans, which have a direct impact on traffic and road safety.
It is useless and even contradictory to complain about increased traffic when the increase is caused by new tourist or residential developments. Or from the lack of regulation, through the urban-building tools of the various local administrations, of new forms of hospitality.
Lastly, as far as road safety is concerned, everyone needs to pay much more attention to driving and tolerance
and greater respect for the rules of the Highway Code, because especially on holidays and days before holidays, due to the intersection of multiple types of vehicles – coaches, trucks, campers, cars, motorbikes and cyclists – the coexistence between the different forms of mobility is particularly complex and difficult.
: “There’s no point in complaining about traffic on Lake Como if tourist and residential settlements grow”){kind=link}