Pontevedra, located in the very north-west of Spain, is setting an example of how to reduce motorized traffic for more quality of life. Image source: Shutterstock (#663670756).
The city of Pontevedra in Spain has successfully gotten rid of most of its car traffic by implementing certain restrictions and putting the people first. “We inverted the pyramid,” mayor Miguel Anxo Fernández Lores says, “leaving the pedestrians above, followed by bicycles and public transport, and with the private car at the bottom.”
Getting rid of unnecessary traffic and only providing free parking at the city fringes, motor traffic in the city center has gone down 97 percent since 1999. “What we did is to create loops to keep people from driving through the city,” Lores explains. “If you enter by the south, you leave by the south.”
Traffic is down 77 percent near the center, and by 53 percent in the city as a whole. Quality of life and air quality have improved massively, and there have been no traffic fatalities for nearly seven years.
Eco-Business
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