Chloe Glover (Reporter)
IT has been a long time in coming… and would revolutionise the tourist experience of Ronda’s famous old town.
Yet, a plan to close off the famous Tajo bridge and pedestrianise most of the historic core of the town, has come under fierce opposition from locals.
The idea to reclaim the centre from traffic – which currently cuts across the celebrated Puente Nuevo, which opened in 1793 – has been opposed by 2,000 people in a petition.
Protesters claim it would cut the town in half and leave some communities stranded.
I understand both viewpoints.
A fair compromise may be to close the bridge for motor traffic only for a limited daytime. My suggestion is this:
weekends and holidays: 9 am to 5 pm
Monday to Friday: 11 am to 3 pm
This will allow visitors to enjoy a good time and citizens to have enough time for their daily errands.
Those traffic time limits can be seen in the downtowns of many Dutch cities.
I think the problem is that the 18th centuary bridge is suffering from all the traffic. It’s like rush hour all day with coaches, lorries and cars. Difficult to try and impose time limits I believe because any driver ignoring the rules and arriving at the bridge would not be able to turn around – and would have to be allowed across the bridge – a fine maybe ? I know some people who live in San Francisco (the old part), who welcome this restriction, because they want to protect the bridge, and because part of the plan would be to build a huge car park there, which would be good for them, given that parking there is already a big problem.