'Pedestrian Lane' prioritizes pedestrians in the capital.

Deborah Fogliatto, On the 21 - On Rua Doutor Flores, in downtown Porto Alegre, a change caught the attention of passersby and shopkeepers: next to the sidewalk, at the beginning of the street, a section was separated from the rest of the road by a white stripe. The parking space for cars, motorcycles, and taxi stands was moved to the side of this stripe, which looks like a small bike path but is intended for pedestrians. The "pedestrian path" (a play on the words pedestrian and bike path) is part of a project that seeks to make the city center more accessible to people who frequent it on foot, taking priority away from cars.

This initiative is just the first phase of the "Street for People" project, which began to be discussed in a working group that has been meeting since last year. With the participation of city hall departments and civil society organizations, the working group was an initiative of the NGO Mobicidade, with the objective of "prioritizing pedestrian traffic as much as possible, aiming for comfort and safety, and meeting the conditions of universal accessibility, with special attention to road intersection areas."

For now, the change has caused bewilderment among workers and visitors to the area, who claim they were not consulted or informed about the "pedestrian lane" before its implementation. The lack of explanation regarding the initiative was one of the criticisms they made, saying that the lane appeared "overnight."

This crosswalk, between Voluntários da Pátria and General Vitorino streets, is the first of several of its kind that will be painted. The same model will be repeated on streets parallel to Doutor Flores: on Marechal Floriano Peixoto, in the section between Avenida Otávio Rocha and General Vitorino street, and in the same section of Vigário José Inácio street. The idea is to form a "quadrilateral," with Andradas street as the central point, where pedestrians are prioritized.

Mobicidade member Marcelo Kalil considers that "ideally, they would prohibit car traffic" in the area, but the "pedestrian walkway" was what was possible, for now, through dialogue with the City Hall. "Nowadays, many people walk there in the middle of the street. What we managed to achieve at the moment was to expand the pedestrian space," he explains, reflecting that the humanization of the city is happening "at a snail's pace."

Falls?

Without knowing the project's objective, which involved civil society and public authorities, many workers in the area speculated that it was done due to problems with the sidewalk, which is very slippery, where at least one person falls every day, according to several shopkeepers. "It must be because of the falls. Someone must have called the City Hall and complained, because it really is very slippery," assessed Isis Peres, who works in a small market on the street.

For her, however, the problem was the lack of warning about the placement of the lane. “On Saturday mornings you should see the number of cars that got ticketed there. People park on top of it because they've always parked there and aren't used to it,” she stated. Noelle Guedes, who frequents the small market daily, assessed that the measure worsened traffic, especially since drivers didn't know the street would be narrowed. “The [parked] cars are in the middle of the street, and this was already a traffic jam during rush hour,” she pointed out.

Among the passersby, many ignored the pedestrian walkway, possibly because it had only recently been implemented, last week. It was noticeable that it was being used more in the stretch between Rua dos Andradas and Voluntários da Pátria, where there is more traffic. "I think it's better for delivery drivers and food carts," reflected Isis. The same was observed by Régis Lima, who sells snacks on Doutor Flores with a cart. "It's much better for us, because we try not to obstruct pedestrians," he and his partner, who preferred not to be identified, said. "The only problem is the pothole they didn't fill," he added, pointing to a puddle of water formed in a hole in the asphalt.

For motorcycle couriers Cézar Almerindo and Carlos Leal, the change wasn't so positive. They also believe the lane was installed because of the number of falls. "Every day someone falls there, it's very slippery," said Carlos. For them, the problem is that the motorcycles are "in the middle of the street" and traffic now only has one lane. Taxi driver Roberto Ribeiro also felt negatively affected by the lane. "For us, it's become bad. We're always in the middle of the street; they even ripped off a taxi's rearview mirror here," he said.

30 Zone

In addition to expanding pedestrian space, the project also stipulates that cars can travel at a maximum speed of 30 km/h. The director of traffic and circulation planning at EPTC, Maria Cristina Molina Madeira, explained that the goal of the expansion is the "improvement and humanization" of the city center. "We really want to give more space to pedestrians in the Historic Center, especially where there is a more intense flow of people, so much so that there are many people walking in the street," she stated.

She reported that the vertical signage on Doutor Flores Street was replaced and, between Otávio Rocha and Doutor Flores streets, an "island" was painted on the median strip, with a pedestrian traffic light. "Really, the objective is to protect pedestrians," she reiterated. Maria Cristina points out that the sidewalks are very narrow in the area, which also harmed the retail sector, as it was difficult to stop and look at the shop windows.

The increase in traffic congestion at this time is natural, according to her. “Before, the driver had the entire road space to themselves, and the pedestrian was squeezed into a very short sidewalk space. So, initially, there's an adjustment period for cars to adapt to the space, but people will get used to it, and ideally, only cars heading towards the city center will be able to pass through there. Those who used to take a shortcut will find another route,” she stated.

The implementation is a pilot project, and the strip will still receive a different textured pavement. Maria Cristina said she is aware of the problem of falls on Rua Doutor Flores. "It's a very narrow space, but we are seeking funding to widen the sidewalk with accessibility features and to fully implement the project," she assured, stating that changes can be made based on this initial design.