How stupid do you have to be to cancel measures to combat pollution and reduce traffic?
Madrid’s new right wing mayor, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, has carried out his threat to backtrack on traffic restrictions in some parts of central Madrid established by his predecessor Manuela Carmena. The move, which clearly demonstrates Martínez-Almeida lack of political stature and is making him an international laughingstock, is a stunning display of environmental ignorance and will surely trigger an avalanche of complaints and protests.
Restricting traffic in cities is the only way forward. There is no going back. Read that slowly and repeat it many times, because it is the only reality, whether we like it or not. It’s what large cities in the developed world are doing, making Madrid the first and only city in the world to commit the unforgivable stupidity of reversing the trend.
The central area of Madrid that the previous administration decided to protect was the smallest of those that established in comparable European cities, and much smaller than Amsterdam, Berlin or London (link in Spanish). And of course, it was a success in reducing emissions overall, rather than just sending traffic to other areas of the city. Furthermore, as happens with pedestrian zones created in cities all over the world, shops saw an increase in customers and turnover. Of course they…
