The speakers in a room at the Palace hotel in Madrid welcome this Wednesday:
―Dear mayor, the platform is yours.
And 15 minutes later, he launched an announcement that raised the gaze of the more than 100 attendees from the cafe. José Luis Martínez-Almeida has announced that the Madrid City Council will create a boulevard that will link the Cibeles fountain with the Puerta de Alcalá. “Currently, we are preparing the basic projects to reform the section of Alcalá Street between Cibeles and Plaza de la Independencia. Madrid knows that it has in its Puerta de Alcalá a great symbol of the city and history,” observed the mayor of the capital. This intervention, according to municipal sources, will begin in 2024.
The boulevard joins the latest restoration of the Puerta de Alcalá, which has been renovated after an 11-month renovation process, with an investment of three million euros. The comprehensive intervention project has been “one of the most intensive” since its construction in the 18th century, according to the head of the Restoration Service. The Puerta de Alcalá has had at least 10 renovations in its entire history: the first, in 1869 and the last, in 2014. Architects and restorers identify the one in 1992 as the last important intervention.
The boulevard project, according to a statement from the Urban Planning, Environment and Mobility area, will involve the reduction of the current lanes, which will become two in both directions. The central boulevard will be 7.5 meters wide and will be lined with trees and plants. The project also includes the widening of the current bike lane, which will increase to 2.6 meters and will include a guard to separate the cyclists’ route from that of urban transport. The forecast is that the works can begin at the end of this year and are expected to conclude at the beginning of 2026. The project, however, will have to have the approval of the Heritage Commission and UNESCO.
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Almeida, once again, has recognized that the City Council also plans to remodel the Landscape of Light, which affects the Paseo del Prado and the surroundings of the Retiro. “The renovation of the Paseo del Prado,” he said, “is the great cultural core of the Landscape of Light, it will be carried out in later phases, but always respecting the values of authenticity, integrity and universality for which UNESCO recognized this space as World Heritage.”
Bury the north of La Castellana
The mayor of Madrid has taken stock of his five years in office. “We are in the moment of Madrid. The best moment we have had in our recent history,” he said. And, immediately, he has launched a message against the Government. “It is true that there is also a paradox. The best moment for Madrid coincides with the worst moment for constitutional Spain. Along these lines, Madrid has a joint responsibility, which is to send a message of hope and optimism. Madrid is the best symbol of constitutional democracy.” And, once again, he has announced two projects for the capital. “I announce that we are going to put out to tender both the coverage of the Ventas bridge, the Salamanca district with Ciudad Lineal, and the north of Castellana, with the coverage of the Madrid Nueva Norte area.”
However, these announcements were already made by Almeida himself last April 2023. What’s more, in the case of the burial in the north of Castellana, it has already been approved. What’s more, it is contemplated within the pharaonic Madrid Nuevo Norte project, which extends over more than 3.3 million square meters (2.4 million if the part that the train tracks of the Madrid station will occupy are discounted). Chamartín) on one of the edges of the capital.
At that event in April 2023, the mayor announced with great fanfare, and with the presence of up to five councilors from the last term, that the section that will be covered brings together the end of Paseo de la Castellana, from Sinesio Delgado Street to the Peace Hospital. The area is 60,000 square meters. The cost, according to the Works area, would be 130 million euros. This Wednesday, at the Almeida breakfast briefing, the mayor said that it would be 80 million. Almeida’s commitment is to do it in the next four years. However, these plans, although without exact dates, were already contemplated within the plans of Madrid Nuevo Norte since 2019.
The Sales Proposal
The Sales coverage announcement was a proposal from the last term, which even had a clash between Ciudadanos and the PP. The vice mayor at the time, Begoña Villacís, announced this proposal during another informative breakfast. And weeks later, it was Almeida himself who announced this project as part of the PP’s plans.
“Everyone copies our proposals, so it is best to vote for the original,” wrote the then delegate of Urban Development at the Madrid City Council, Mariano Fuentes, on Twitter. The Ciudadanos councilor accused Almeida of being “dry of ideas” and having copied a proposal from his mayoral candidate, Begoña Villacís. The mayor of Madrid announced this Wednesday at the Palace hotel that the cost of this work will be 80 million euros and, according to his calculations, the works would also begin in 2024.
In urban innovation, everyone copies our proposals. Therefore, it is best to vote for the original
Almeida is dry of ideas and announces the coverage of the M30 in Sales, a measure he presented @begonavillacis two months ago. Surprising or not?https://t.co/vAuNTyS8HZ
— Mariano Fuentes (@MarianoFuentesS) May 10, 2023
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