"Gronda di Ponente" highway bypass in Genova (Italy)

Dear all,

at York I have discussed with some of you about a new highway bypass
in Genova called "Gronda di Ponente". We would like to have whole WCN
aware of this new project, which we are opposing, as we consider it an
absurd: the Gronda solution is an old answer to an old problem. It has
been proposed in the '80's, and confirmed nowadays using the same
obsolete paradigms. It will require a considerable amount of money
(~5000 Milion euros), avoiding any control from EU offices, while the
real solution (i.e.strengthening local public transport and railway
fregth transport) is continually receiving cuts instead of
investments.

The Gronda di Ponente is a new highway bypass, proposed to solve the
congestion problems which are faced on some portion of the existing
highway in the Genova’s node (highway A10 between Voltri and Genova
Ovest exits). The cost estimated for the bypass is approximetaley 5000
Mln euros, and will be constituted of 26 km of new highway bypass, of
which 23 km in a tunnel to be excavated in the mountains.

The Gronda, under discussion for many years, facing difficulties due
to financing, to area orography, to opposition from residents and
owners of work areas that would be subject to the work and therefore
likely to expropriation and demolition of homes and jobs, has recently
received the go ahead by government and local authorities.

Last year Genova municipality has organized a "fake" Public Debate (in
the French style), which instead of discussing the real need for such
infrastrucutre, required participants to choose among 5 different
options for the Gronda's path. During the debate it was made clear
that no real cost/benefit analysis has been ever done, and many data
have been provided by proponents, which showed that this new
infrastructure would be of minimal or no effect to resolve the traffic
congestion problem. What instead the data indicated, is that by
strengthening local public transport and railway freigth transport,
many of the cars/trucks currently using the highway, whould be
avoided, proving better results than Gronda.

This is the "official" website prepared by local authorities for the
"public debate", where you can find many information on the project
(unfortunately in italian).
http://urbancenter.comune.genova.it/spip.php?rubrique7068

This instead is one of the websites of the opponents, where you can
find "counter-information"
http://www.meetup.com/Valpolcevera/messages/boards/thread/8972427

As opponents of the infrastructure we are currently conducting an
independent and updated traffic analysis, with the aim to show that
with strengthening public transport and railway freigth transport, we
could have better results, in a shorter time frame (5 years instead of
10) and with sensibly reduced investment (1000 Mln euro instead of
5000).

We would like to be in network with other people facing similar
situations around the world (as the ViaExpress in Mexico), so to be
able to exchange information, ideas and possibly make international
pressure at local, national and EU level.

Massimiliano Amirfeiz
Green Mobility
member of WCN, WWF Liguria and FIAB Onlus

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