The second phase of the comprehensive reform of the Catalonia Avenue Zaragoza has come to an end. The works, which have led to the paving and integral renewal of services under the railroad roads, have culminated in the creation of a new roundabout, thus joining the project with the works of the first phase, inaugurated in February 2024.
“Finally the works have ended and, therefore, we can conclude a reform that the neighbors have been waiting for many years and that is promoting the growth and development of this city,” said the mayor of Saragossa, Natalia Chueca, who has been present at the opening of this new section of the Aragonese capital.
The project, which required Adif’s approval due to its proximity to rail infrastructure, has had a budget of almost 1.3 million euros and an execution period of nine months. Precisely, this new roundabout is what will facilitate the turns and mobility of the almost 20,000 vehicles that travel daily through this busy via.
The first phase of works on Catalonia Avenue ended in February 2024 | Photo: Pilar Álvarez
The mayor has also stressed that this work “is a commitment of this government and is part of an ambitious and historical policy of integral renewal of the streets, which reaches all the neighborhoods of the city, and that meets a historical demand of the neighbors.” Especially in this avenue of almost three kilometers in length that has left behind its past as an old national road with this face washing.
The neighbors, satisfied with the face washing
“It has been beautiful. I am as if I had touched the lottery,” said a neighbor who has not hesitated to go for a walk as soon as the works came to an end. And, in general, the neighbors have been very satisfied with the reform. “Before you looked at the window and there was a scrap that I didn’t like. This has nothing to do with what there was before,” said another.
For drivers, another woman nodded, this new disposition is also a change for better. “It’s very good. My husband also drives with the car and it’s perfect. The sidewalks are very safe and people are also very prudent,” he explained.
The demand now, other neighbors pointed out, is in the services. Or better, said, in their absence. “The neighbors who have been fighting for years because this was a street and not a road. We are happy. We have won on sidewalks, parks and banks, but by belonging to the Arrabal district all services are 4 or 5 kilometers,” said Carlos Mendivi, representative of the Ríos de Aragon association.
“We do not have a sports center or nursery. We ask them to act as a City Council to provide this area with those public services they have in any neighborhood,” he insisted.
Broader sidewalks, bike lane and a large roundabout
The second phase of works on Avenida de Cataluña has made possible the creation of a roundabout with a median separation of two meters and bike lane on both sides of circulation, guaranteeing cycling continuity. Green elements have also been integrated, such as a couple of trees in the southeast corner and the continuity of one of the gardens created in the first phase.
Appearance of the newly built roundabout under the railway bridge | Photo: Pilar Álvarez
In addition, supply, sewage and public lighting networks have been renewed. The old reinforced concrete water pipe has also been eliminated half a meter in diameter under the bridge, replacing it with a ductile smelting. The registration well that stood out from the sidewalk has been demolished, completing the performance of the ditching of April twenty -three street.
This reform thus continues to that of the first phase of this same route, initiated in December 2022 and ended in February 2024, which transformed the old road into an avenue with two lanes of circulation by direction separated by a median, a segregated bike lane, wide sidewalks of between 10 and 12 meters fully accessible and 17 large landscaped areas with banks, where more than 70 trees were planted.
A third phase still defined
Despite the illusion for this reopening of Catalonia Avenue, there are many who already look at the future third phase. The mayor recalled that this will have a “greater complexity” because there is an already urbanized part and the other depends on the Compensation Board.
“When this urban development occurs it will be when the City of Zaragoza demands that third phase,” said Chueca, who, in any case, has recognized that it will not be an “imminent” process.
