Zagreb HDZ: The Transformation of the Rotor Will Diminish the Quality of Life for Residents of New Zagreb

The method of reconstructing the Remetinec rotor, which is expected to last until the beginning of 2020, will jeopardize the quality of life for the citizens of New Zagreb, assessed the Zagreb HDZ on Thursday. They also believe that the announced traffic suspension with the proposed alternatives has been insufficiently studied and made hastily without considering the overall picture of the city’s traffic system.

Tram traffic in New Zagreb between the Sava Bridge and Sopot will be suspended from Monday, August 6, due to the reconstruction of the Remetinec rotor, which will last until the beginning of 2020, during which an extraordinary bus line will operate across the Sava.

>>> Tram Will Not Operate in New Zagreb for a Year and a Half; Reconstruction of the Rotor in Remetinec Begins

The HDZ emphasizes in a statement that the reconstruction of the Remetinec rotor is a necessary intervention for the operation of higher quality and more efficient traffic and ensuring sustainable mobility, but they assess that the manner in which the works will begin and last will create additional problems at already overloaded intersections (Avenue Dubrovnik and Većeslava Holjevca, as well as SR Germany and Avenue Dubrovnik) and the remaining bridges connecting New Zagreb with the city center.

They assess that the announced traffic suspension with the proposed alternatives has been insufficiently studied and made hastily, without considering the overall picture of the sensitive traffic system of the City of Zagreb, which, they warn, can have far-reaching unwanted consequences for a wide range of users and the economy as a whole.

Transferring passengers to bus lines will make it difficult to achieve the level of service quality previously provided

From the Zagreb HDZ, they assess that transferring passengers to additional bus lines “which should operate on already overloaded roads” will make it difficult to achieve the level of service quality that citizens have had so far using tram transport. This, they warn, will inevitably lead to reduced attractiveness of public urban transport and increased use of other forms of transport, particularly cars.

By transferring passengers from the tram to the bus subsystem, the entire public transport of passengers from New Zagreb will take place over the existing road infrastructure on the Adriatic Bridge, which will, they warn, further increase traffic load on the bridge itself and access roads, and the travel time for passengers who have previously used tram transport will be significantly extended, especially during peak periods.

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They note that, in addition to the quality of life for citizens living and working in the New Zagreb area, increased and more frequent traffic overloads will affect the economic activity of economic entities in the New Zagreb area (Avenue Mall, Arena).

Therefore, they state that without a quality assessment of the needs of citizens and economic entities in the New Zagreb area before and during the temporary traffic regulation and their inclusion in the decision-making process, it is not possible to adequately offer appropriate alternative solutions.