Skip to main content

Buenos Aires integrated urban renewal project wins global transport award

An inner-city renewal initiative in Buenos Aires. Argentina has been awarded the International Transport Forum's Transport Achievement Award, which will be presented during the ITF summit on 1 June in Leipzig, Germany.
May 31, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
An inner-city renewal initiative in Buenos Aires. Argentina has been awarded the International Transport Forum's Transport Achievement Award, which will be presented during the ITF summit on 1 June in Leipzig, Germany.


In an effort to improve traffic and pedestrian access  in the downtown area of Buenos Aires known as Microcentro, the Transport Authority of Buenos Aires in cooperation with the national government of Argentina and local stakeholders implemented Argentina's 6635 first comprehensive urban renewal programme.

This included a pedestrian priority area complemented by a new metrobus corridor. A total of 86 blocks in the Microcentro are now restricted for cars and equipped with licence plate recognition technologies. Sidewalks were extended to create shared spaces, additional bicycle lanes and 29 new bicycle sharing stations were built.
 
At the same time, a new metrobus corridor was created on the Avenida 9 de Julio, the major north-south thoroughfare adjoining the Microcentro. The bus rapid transit provides high-capacity public transport as an alternative to car travel into the city centre.
 
As a result, the number of cars entering the Microcentro has reduced by almost 86 per cent, from more than 15,000 to just over 2,121 every day. The metrobus 9 de Julio, used by 11 bus lines carrying 255,000 people every day, cuts average travel time along the three-kilometre corridor by 50 per cent in peak hours.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Venkat Sumantran: ‘Smart cities are more hype than reality’
    November 23, 2018
    For all the talk of smart cities, investment in systems lags significantly behind organic expansion in most places. Andrew Stone talks to Venkat Sumantran, who has been looking at how to create a coherent framework which could help authorities answer multiple mobility questions Two megatrends are posing unprecedented challenges to those trying to keep people moving around the world’s urban areas now - and in the years and decades to come. The first is rapid urbanisation. One in six of us lived in urban a
  • Sydney accelerates 'pop-up' cycleways
    May 19, 2020
    Australia’s largest city, Sydney, is creating six new 'pop-up' cycleways in key commuter areas around the central business district.
  • Work starts on more UK smart motorways
    July 9, 2014
    Three new major motorway schemes on the M1 and M3 will cut congestion and give Britain's drivers smoother, quicker journeys, Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin has announced. Construction will now start on the M1 junctions 28-31 in Derbyshire, M1 junctions 32-35a in South Yorkshire and on the M3 at junction 2-4a in Surrey. The new schemes are central to the Government's long term economic plan and part of US$41 billion of investment in the road network by 2021, which will see spending tripled to U
  • Platform announcement: public transport is running 10 years behind schedule
    March 10, 2023
    Public transport worldwide is under pressure on a variety of fronts. Jon Salmon of Snapper Services UK explains why the industry should look more at data – and pick up some tips from the retail sector