Municipalities of Braga (PT) and Pontevedra (ES) create partnership for urban mobility projects

The Portuguese Municipality of Braga has partnered with the Spanish City of Pontevedra in developing a Mobility and Traffic Management Study.

This study will be an instrument that will establish a global strategy for intervention in accessibility and mobility management, and will define a set of actions and measures that contribute to the implementation of a more sustainable model, focussing on economic development, greater social cohesion and ensuring environmental protection and energy efficiency.

The Mayor of Braga, Ricardo Rio, highlighted that many current constraints are to do with the size of mobility in cities: “We are all aware that the issue of mobility is a central goal in the life and development of the city and the country for the future. Obviously, we have to realize that solving the problems and creating the model that we aspire for road safety, environmental sustainability, economic efficiency and community integration are solutions that have to combine the efforts of several protagonists, and this forces us to work together.”

The working group gathered for a meeting to collaborate joint projects around the theme of sustainable urban mobility. More than 70 people attended, including diverse agents, institutions, associations and individuals in the area of mobility. These included: Urban Transport of Braga; CIM Cávado; the Urban Quadrilateral; School Groupings; Town Councils; the CCDR-N; the Commercial Association of Braga; several research groups from the University of Minho; the Centre of Computer Graphics of the University of Minho; GNR; PSP; Municipal Police and the various departments of the Bracaran Autarchy.

Miguel Bandeira, a councillor for Planning, Mobility and Transit in Braga, explained: “This meeting was not only about the presentation of good practices and the projects that we are developing in this area but, above all, a day of discussion and work, whose conclusions will be presented at the beginning of next year. 2019 will be a year of strong investments in mobility, and the articulation of projects and interaction with the various stakeholders has been fundamental. Bringing together the main agents, personalities and institutions that have the challenge of reflecting and presenting proposals for solving the mobility problems of the Municipality is an important step. The presence of two councillors and the Mayor of Pontevedra police are testimony to the cooperation that we have been deepening over the last five years and that counts on its partnership in the candidacy for joint projects, involving the universities and the main sectoral agents "

Ricardo Rio explained that the development of this study presents a set of objectives to be achieved:

• promoting balanced modal shifts to cleaner and more efficient modes of transport
• improving the efficiency, effectiveness and fairness of transport costs
• accessibility
• reduction of the transport system’s negative impact on the health and safety of citizens, in particular the most vulnerable
• reduction of air pollution, noise, greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption

Both municipalities have been enhancing institutional cooperation, especially in Mobility and Urban Development. This collaboration has led to the Câmara de Braga and concello de Pontevedra, together with the Universities of Vigo and Minho, jointly submitting a project last March to the 2nd Call funding for INTERREG POCTEP – Operational Program for Cross-Border Cooperation between Spain and Portugal. "IntelMobilCities - Information and intelligence in the management of infrastructures and mobility for the quality of the urban environment" has a project objective to advance practices in the management of mobility and infrastructures in an urban context, ensuring information that supports management level decisions and introducing the use of predictive models that consider the urban environment quality.

Article published on 16th December by Braga TV.