Jaime Vargas walks down Florida Street every day to go to work. Before reaching the intersection of Calle Santa Barbara must go down to the road because the sidewalk is full of debris, which obstructs the passage of pedestrians.
Sidewalks like these are a risk for the more than 72,200 people who travel daily through the streets adjacent to the historic center of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, according to data collected by the Association of Property Owners of the Center of the capital of Santa Cruz (APC).
“Three days ago, a man stepped on one of the bricks and sprained his ankle. Someone would have to take care of covering the medical expenses for this accident, but this does not happen, ”observed the passerby.
Neighbors and specialists agree that the sloped sidewalksly in poor condition represent a permanent risk for the pedestrian. The Mayor’s Office is working on a project to improve the center of Santa Cruz, which includes leveling the sidewalks.
Another example is the area of Suárez Arana Street and near the Plazuela Colón, where there is a sidewalk in unevenness that hinders the mobility of passers-by, especially mothers with pushchairs and the elderly.
Walking a few blocks, on Monseñor Salvatierra street, in front of the Los Huérfanos chapel, the panorama remains the same. Zulema Flores, who works in a cephysiotherapy center in the area, said that for patients It is difficult to get around due to the ups and downs on the sidewalk. “The city is not pedestrian-friendly, for example, some floors are not suitable for walking because when it rains they become slippery,” the woman described.
Further north, on 21 de Mayo street, a few steps from Andrés Ibáñez street, passers-by should get off the street.ada because the sidewalk is not suitable for walking due to lack of maintenance. “Neither children nor elderly people can go through there, worse when it rains,” said Pedro Salvatierra, a resident of the place.
Invest in the pedestrian
Fernando Prado, architect and urban planner, said that what is happening with the sidewalks is “outrageous”, which are municipal trust and not private property. He assures that, although the Mayor’s Office of Santa Cruz de la Sierra makes large investments of money on the pavement of streets and avenues, it does not do the same with the sidewalks along which thousands of pedestrians move daily.
“They invest millions in pavement, but they don’t do the same to provide conditions for pedestrians. This seems to us to be tremendous discrimination because priority is given to the vehicle and not to the pedestrian,” said Prado.
He added that, according to municipal regulations, the owners of homes are not allowed to build sidewalks and Ius with a design to your liking, because that area is a public space and, therefore, the private sector cannot build in this place. However, it does so in the face of neglect by the Municipal Government.
For this reason, the urban planner considers that the Mayor’s Office should include in its budget, “in addition to the cement for the vehicles, the sidewalks for the neighbor.”
“The Mayor’s Office has to do it because many times the neighbor does not know how to build a sidewalk,” insisted Prado.
Fabiola Rodríguez, architect and coordinator of the APC, said that until about four years ago the municipality of Santa Cruz hadIt started with projects to unify the sidewalks of the center of Santa Cruz, but it was not fully completed because only a few were intervened.
“An intervention of the municipality is necessary to be able to unifyfy them because in the center lives a large percentage of older people who have great difficulty walking on sidewalks due to unevenness and carelessness”.
I knowAccording to data collected by Luis Alberto Soleto, memberor from the APC, the pedestrian flow in the streets adjacent to the historic center per day is 72,210 people, between 07:40 and 22:40. This figure drops on weekends to 26,746 on Saturdays and 4,134 on Sundays.
According to this study, the streets of Plaza 24 de Septiembre are used mostly by young people and adults, whilee in its minority do the elderly and children.
“Although the number of children between 4 and 13 years old doubles on Sundays in relation to the weekly average, these represent only 8% of the total number of street users,” the study reflects.
Andrea Daza, municipal secretary of Innovation, Technology and Planning, reported that the commune is working on the project Urban Resiliencetogether with the World Bank, which seeks improvement in the tracks and especially in the homogenizationtion of sidewalks. “It is a process because by validating the proposal, we are going to be able to obtain the budget for the execution of the paths,” said the authority.
Regarding the maintenance of the sidewalks that are deteriorated, Daza pointed out that a double public investment cannot be made, which would be the renovation works and also the homogenization project, which is in the preliminary study stage.
“I think it is important to make citizens aware that they can also be collaborative in the maintenance of sidewalks. Right now we are working on the project within the central area (of Santa Cruz de la Sierra), but, fordeal with it within the project Urban Resilience,
it is necessary to present and justify the investment in addition to the final design,” said the municipal secretary.
The uneven and neglected sidewalks are not only in the center of Santa Cruz, but throughout the city.
