To solve the traffic chaos in via Francesco Crispi Time and long-term solutions will be needed. The mayor of Palermo Roberto Lagalla stated this this morning during the press conference dedicated to the illustration of the road maintenance plan. Among the axes that will be affected by the asphalt resurfacing works is the main road axis of the port of Palermo, battered by decades of lack of restoration work and the continuous passage of heavy vehicles. A fact that becomes more intense especially on Mondays and Thursdays, i.e. on the days of main boarding activity.
Roberto Lagalla’s point on via Crispi
A situation that generates a large influx of heavy vehicles on via dell’Arsenale and, as a result, on via Crispi. Result: traffic was paralyzed for several hours. A mirror image of what happens in the morning, especially on the lane towards Cala, during the outflow of cruise passengers and the relative arrival of tourist vehicles of all kinds, such as minibuses and horse-drawn carriages. A skein tangled up even more by construction sites which limit the Municipality’s options. The mayor himself took care of illustrating the state of the art on the topic. “The matter is complex – highlighted Lagalla -. Councilor Falzone, Councilor Carta and the Municipal Police command are working on it. We’re running out of recipes right now. There are Terna’s works on Via Crispi, which reduces a potential lane for heavy vehicles, as well as the completion of the metro train half-ring inside the portwhich occupy an area that could be used for the temporary parking of trucks that need to be loaded”.
The definitive solution: the dry port. But we’ll have to wait
The solutions that the Municipality of Palermo is looking at are long-term. “In perspective, we are thinking of a dry port, a dry port in which to carry out the waiting and check-in operations for boarding to be done inside the Sampolo station. An area that cannot currently be used for this purpose for two reasons. The first is that we are defining the framework agreement with RFI’s capital area. The second is that the sludge from the port’s dredging must be disposed of, which must be reclaimed and transported elsewhere.”
Projects that can be achieved in the short term
And what about the immediate future? Roberto Lagalla talks about the projects in the pipeline, based on a partnership with the Port Authority led by Pasqualino Monti. “The dry port is a prospective project, not feasible during this year. Period in which we are working with the Port Authority to optimize the wait in via Crispi. Check if possible to increase the accumulation on Via Cristoforo Colombo and then be able to recover a surface inside the port, when the works on the railway ring are completed. Furthermore, we have signed an agreement with the Port Authority to support two municipal police patrols to monitor traffic. It’s a real problem but one that takes a long time to resolve.”
