This is the end of the dream of a pedestrian- and bicycle-safe Pulawska Street in Warsaw. The city will not follow in the footsteps of Berlin, Paris and even Krakow, where it has been possible to introduce temporary solutions to improve travel comfort at low cost. There will be no bike lanes - the drivers won (as usual).
Pulawska is one of the main arteries of Warsaw's Mokotow district. The street, which could be the pride of the district, with its representative modernist architecture, restaurants and stores today looks like a traffic sewer. Cars here have not only three lanes in each direction, but also parking spaces on the sidewalks. Parked cars in places prevent pedestrians from passing freely, and the space left for them does not meet legal standards.
pedestrian safety too radical
photo City Is Ours
The fight for a better Pulawska Street has been waged by local associations and residents for years. In a city that wants to put itself among the champions of green change in Europe and promotes investment in public spaces, this should not be a fight but a smooth and quick process. However, this is not the case, because pedestrian and bicycle Warsaw wants to be mainly for show. The problem of Pulawska Street was brought to our attention a year ago by the organizers of the fifth Pedestrian Critical Mass - Miasto Jest Nasz, Zielone Mazowsze and Wiosna. They demanded new pedestrian crossings, wide and level sidewalks and increased spending on pedestrians. None of these demands sound radical - unfortunately for Warsaw officials, such basic demands seem impossible to meet.
untouchable car
photo by Adrian Grycuk - Wikimedia Commons
The Warsaw Municipal Roads Administration has admittedly announced that from the section from Dolna Street to Goworka Street parking spaces will be moved from the sidewalk to the roadway lane for the vacation period. And we are talking about the 2021 vacations - however, this did not happen last year or this year. Thus, the Municipal Road Administration maintains a pathological state in which a 1.5-meter-wide sidewalk is left for pedestrians next to a three-lane street, and even narrower in some places. As the initiators of the action note, cyclists on Pulawska Street often choose the sidewalk instead of the roadway for fear of speeding cars. This exacerbates the disastrous situation for pedestrians. But it is not the cyclists who are to blame for this situation, but the authorities.
everything is complicated
While Berlin, Paris or even Krakow took advantage of the opportunity opened up by the pandemic and designated temporary bicycle lanes on a large scale in lanes previously meant for cars - in Warsaw a similar move is becoming an impossibility. The city has not taken the slightest advantage of opportunities to improve the functioning of the capital's streets and improve pedestrian safety. ZDM Deputy Director Wojciech Patryka, in a letter published by the Warsaw Smog Alarm on August 16, stated, contrary to earlier announcements, that ZDM had never planned to introduce temporary solutions on Pulawska and does not intend to do so.
warsaw smog alarm
Photo: Warszawski Alarm Smogowy
The elimination of parking spaces, by the way, is an oft-referenced argument against the changes - according to officials, it is residents who are supposed to protest. Residents, however, respond to such reports by publishing dozens of photos of weekend days and evenings on Pulawska Street, where the sidewalks are empty, refuting the claim that it is mainly people living in the neighborhood who park there. In turn, in response to comments made by city councilwoman Agata Diduszko-Zyglewska, ZDM indicates that it has never applied for funds for the reconstruction of Pulawska Street and does not intend to do so, as it is not the proper entity to initiate such projects, also suggesting inaction on the part of the councilwoman. The question - where is the mayor or those responsible for planning and public space in this whole dispute?
